Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that he hoped no one got a neighbour like India had, a day after Pakistan decided to dilute bilateral ties as a protest against New Delhi’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, NDTV reported.

“We have our utmost apprehensions about our neighbour,” Singh said at an event for Army veterans in Delhi. “The issue is that you can change friends but it is not in your hands to choose your neighbour. And the kind of neighbour who is next to us. I pray to god that no one gets such a neighbour.”

The defence minister also said that the security personnel deployed in the region have managed to maintain peace in the Valley despite all odds, according to ABP News.

A day after Islamabad announced it would downgrade diplomatic relations, India responded saying that the country’s decision was meant to present an “alarming picture” of the bilateral ties to the international community. The Ministry of External Affairs said the reasons given by Islamabad were not supported by “facts on the ground”.

Pakistan’s decision to expel India’s envoy and not send its own to New Delhi came on Wednesday evening after the Indian Parliament approved withdrawing the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution. Pakistan had also said it would bring up the matter at the United Nations Security Council and would “review bilateral arrangements”.

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