Pakistan has strongly criticized India’s decision to host G20 meetings in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir. The country’s Foreign Office released a statement expressing “strong indignation” towards India’s plans, calling them “self-serving” and an attempt to legitimize India’s “illegal occupation” of the region. The G20 Tourism Working Group is set to convene its third meeting in Srinagar from May 22 to 24, while G20 and Youth 20 meetings will also take place in Srinagar and Leh in April and May.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office condemned the move, calling it “equally disconcerting” and a violation of international law and the principles of the UN Charter. The statement further noted that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute that has been on the UNSC’s agenda for over seven decades. It also highlighted India’s “brutal suppression” of the people of the region, including illegal attempts to change its demographic composition.
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The statement underlined that by hosting the G20 meetings in Jammu and Kashmir, India is exploiting its membership of an important international grouping to advance its self-serving agenda. The Foreign Office had previously cautioned G20 countries against accepting Delhi’s proposal to hold some of the meetings of the bloc’s next year’s summit in India-held Jammu and Kashmir. The G20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s 20 major developed and developing economies, making it the premier forum for international economic cooperation.
