Web Desk
Pakistan has expressed its strong disapproval of India’s choice to hold the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in the illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Pakistan also voiced concern over two additional meetings that were planned to take place in Leh and Srinagar in connection with a consultative forum on youth affairs (Y-20) in IIOJK. Pakistan sees this as India’s most recent attempt to continue its illegitimate occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in defiance of international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
“Pakistan vehemently rejects these actions and reminds the world that Jammu and Kashmir is an issue that has been on the UNSC’s agenda for more than 70 years. Pakistan has also made the G20 member nations aware that Srinagar is located in a disputed region and that India plans to host a meeting on tourism there,”. according to a statement issued by Foreign Office on Tuesday.
India has released the agenda for the G20 summit in Srinagar despite China and Pakistan objecting. This issue is being discussed between Pakistan and China, and they plan to raise it in international fora.
Indian government announced Srinagar as the venue for the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting scheduled to take place from May 22 to 24.
“India’s irresponsible move is the latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in sheer disregard of the United Nations Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. Pakistan vehemently condemns these moves,” the statement read.
“Such events cannot hide the reality of Jammu and Kashmir being an internationally recognized dispute that has remained on the agenda of United Nations Security Council for over seven decades,” the Pakistani statement added. “For a country that has a grandiose vision about itself, and its place in the world, India has once more demonstrated that it is unable to act as a responsible member of the international community.”
India took over the presidency of the G20, an economic cooperation bloc comprised of 19 countries and the European Union, in December last year. It is scheduled to host a leader’s summit in New Delhi this September.
Pakistan’s former envoy to India, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi has termed India’s decision to hold the event in Srinagar “highly inappropriate”.
“It is unbecoming of India to host an event in Srinagar which is in a disputed territory. It is very inappropriate, but the way things are, this issue is not taken up as seriously due to Indian importance,” Qazi told Al Jazeera.
He said it is “unfortunate” that the Western countries which claim to be champions of human rights choose to ignore India’s decision.
“They are ignoring the fact that India is playing host in Srinagar – and also did not invite China, which is a key member of G20, but it is also a major violator of human rights – as well as United Nations resolutions about this region.
