Senate committee chairman says several options being considered KARACHI: Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman on Wednesday said Islamabad is considering taking its dispute with India over Kashmir to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). “No final decision has been taken,” said Dr. Muhammad Faisal. “The media will be apprised once a decision is taken in this regard.” Sajid Mir, chairman of the Senate committee on Kashmir, told Arab News that Pakistan is considering the ICJ as one of several options. “Going to the ICJ is one of them, but it’s still under deliberation and no final decision has been taken,” Mir said, adding that Faisal had briefed senators about the situation in Indian-administered Kashmir. “Around a million people are under house arrest in Kashmir, where the curfew has entered its 16th day,” Mir said. “There are reports that around 4,000 Kashmiri people have been detained by occupation forces due to fear of a strong reaction,” he said, adding that Pakistan will “raise the issue at the (UN) Human Rights Council.” Political leaders in Kashmir had warned that repealing Article 370 of India’s constitution, and thereby changing the state’s special status, could trigger major unrest. Indian authorities immediately launched a clampdown in Kashmir by suspending telephone and internet services and putting some leaders under house arrest. The decision to revoke Kashmir’s special status means the revocation of a bar on property purchases by people from outside the state, and government jobs and some college spots in Kashmir will no longer be reserved for its residents. The Muslim-majority Himalayan region has been at the heart of more than 70 years of animosity, since the partition of the British colony of India into the separate countries of Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India. Kashmir is divided between India, Pakistan and China. Any decision by the ICJ would be an advisory opinion only. “Although an advisory opinion will not be binding, it will support Pakistan’s position that Kashmir is an international issue, and is likely to put pressure on India to act in accordance with the previous resolutions of the UN Security Council,” said international law expert and barrister Taimur Malik.