India has gone ahead with its G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar despite strong protests by Pakistan and in sheer disregard for international laws.
It would be the first major event in Srinagar after the special status of Indian-occupied Kashmir was scrapped.
Selecting Srinagar as the venue for the event was deliberate. New Delhi wanted to legitimise its 2019 move. But, its attempt seems to have backfired as some major countries have joined the Srinagar G20 Boycott. They are China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.
China and Turkey, which are members of the G20, have decided to skip the event.so has Saudi Arabia, another member. Egypt, which had been extended an invitation by the Indian government for the event, also decided not to participate.
This is a major diplomatic blow for India, which has been claiming that its decision to choose Srinagar as the venue of the event was justified.
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, said: “China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G-20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings.”
Another statement by UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes left New Delhi fuming.
De Varennes said the event being held in Srinagar was an effort to “normalise” alleged human rights violations and the “denial of democratic and other rights” that were “ongoing”.
India’s mission in Geneva rejected the statement.
During a weekly media briefing, the Indian ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi claimed that G20 meetings were being organised in all cities and parts of India, therefore, it was natural to hold the meetings in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh because “these are inalienable parts of India”.
On the other hand, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari reached Muzaffarabad to express solidarity with the Kashmiris in their protest against the G20 meeting in Srinagar.
He said New Delhi would not be able to suppress the voice of the Kashmiris by holding the G20 tourism summit in Srinagar.
The foreign minister said: “It is not possible for India to play an important role in the world by violating the UN resolutions.”
He went on to say that those who thought that by organising a conference, they could silence the Kashmiris living in the occupied valley were mistaken.
“I believe that when a country takes a step like that India has taken, their real face comes forth in front of the world,” he said.
Meanwhile, protests were held in Azad Kashmir to condemn the G20 meeting in Srinagar. Traders in Muzaffarabad pulled down their shutters.
The Modi-led government is insincere with the Kashmir issue. It is violating the United Nations resolutions with impunity, it is giving two hoots to international law and is paying no heed to international voices that point out the human rights violations New Delhi is committing in occupied Kashmir.
The world forums should see to it that India restores Kashmir’s special status pre-2019 and hold talks with Pakistan on this decades-old dispute.
Pakistan, on the other hand, should keep up the pressure and raise the issue with more force internationally.
It is now the third generation of Kashmiris that has been living under Indian rule, but it still has the same spirit, the same determination as its forefathers had.
Pakistan Is Joke of Day