G-20 Summit: India did not achieve its political objectives
THE Group of Twenty, or G-20, is an intergovernmental organization made up of 19 major economies of the world, plus the European Union (EU), namely, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US plus the EU. This group strives to address global economic concerns and to act as a forum for global economic and financial cooperation. Pakistan has yet to become a member. In 2023, India became the Chairperson of the G-20.
India held the G-20 Tourism promotion summit from 22 May to 24 May 2023 at Srinagar city, of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir (the disputed state between Pakistan and India since 1947, as per the UNSC resolutions of 1948). On 5 August 2019, India had further aggravated the dispute by stripping the autonomy of the State and dividing it into two federally administered union territories. This was done in an utter violation of the UNSC resolutions and the bilateral agreements on Kashmir.
The UNSC had ruled in 1948 that Jammu and Kashmir dispute will be resolved through a UNSC supervised plebiscite to determine the Kashmiris’ will to either join Pakistan or India. The holding of the plebiscite by the UNSC is yet to be held, because of India’s reluctance. India had also agreed to resolve the dispute through a bilateral dialogue, which it never agreed to discuss. Because of India’s deceptive policies on Kashmir, the Kashmiris has continued to fight for freedom since 1989.
The Kashmiris resisted to India’s 5 August 2019 illegal steps and Pakistan also fiercely reacted, being a party to the dispute and referred the matter to the UNSC in August 2019. To quell the Kashmiris’ resistance, the BJP/Modiled government has taken such a severe military action that Srinagar has been under curfew since 5 August 2019, rampant abductions and target killings have taken place, the Kashmiri youth has been jailed, and uncountable HR violations are being done.
Under this worsened security situation, where the Kashmiris are fighting for their freedom and protesting India’s blood stained rule, by holding the G-20 meeting under tight security measures, India has tried to deceive the world that after dividing the occupied Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, peace is prevailing there, economic development is underway and the region is fit for the foreign investment and tourism, and hence, Pakistan’s claim over occupied Jammu and Kashmir was no more relevant.
But, factually speaking, because of Pakistan’s bold diplomacy to oppose the holding of G-20 tourism moot in the disputed/illegally occupied part of Jammu and Kashmir, the Kashmiris’ continuing freedom struggle, their ongoing protests to oppose the G-20 Tourism meeting by closing Srinagar city and other markets, India’s holding of the meeting under tight security measures in a heavily militarized region, and absence of China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt from the conference, it appears that India has badly failed in achieving its above stated objectives, as the participants could clearly observe that there is no peace, the region is not fit for foreign tourism/investment and the Jammu and Kashmir is still a disputed area between Pakistan and India.
The foreign media coverage of the G-20 tourism meets held in Srinagar, also indicates that India has totally failed in achieving its political and economic objectives. As per the CNN dated 23 May 2023, China stated that it would not attend the meeting, citing its opposition “to holding any kind of the G-20 meetings in the disputed territory”. CNN further wrote, Kashmir is one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints, as the region has seen three wars during last 70 years between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
The CNN also noted that recently, Fernand de Varennes, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, said,” The Indian government was “seeking to normalize what some have described as a military operation by instrumentalizing a G20 meeting” in a region where fears of human rights violations and violence are rife.
As per Voice of America (VOA) dated 24 May 2023, expressing outrage, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called India’s decision to hold the first major event on its side of Kashmir since revoking its special autonomy on 5 August 2023, was a “display of arrogance.” Bilawal told the VOA, “That, was India sending a message to the world that we don’t believe in international law and we can violate international [United Nations] Security Council Resolutions, and there’s nothing you can do about it”.
The Guardian newspaper dated 22 May and 26 May 2023, UK, has stated that India’s presidency of the G20 group of leading nations has become mired in controversy after China and Saudi Arabia boycotted a meeting staged in Kashmir, whereas the Indian authorities hoped the meeting would show that the controversial changes of 5 August 2019 have brought “peace and prosperity” to the region and that it is a safe place for tourists.
As per the Guardian, during the G-20 meeting in Srinagar, the social media users shared images of soldiers hiding behind tourism posters, accusing India of trying to conceal its military occupation of the region during the G-20 tourism summit. Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti claimed India had turned the region into the equivalent of the Guantánamo Bay prison simply to hold a meeting on tourism.
In view of the above discussion, it is suggested that to fail India’s such efforts/diplomatic gaming of convincing the world leaders that after its 5 August 2019 actions, the illegally occupied part of the Jammu and Kashmir got peaceful, economic development was taking place, the region was fit for the foreign investment/tourism and hence, Pakistan’s claim over occupied Jammu and Kashmir was no more relevant, it is necessary that through an active and consistent diplomacy and energizing the Kashmiris awareness/political activities, Pakistan should keep the Jammu and Kashmir dispute active/alive, and under the world focus.
—The writer is also a former Research Fellow of IPRI and Senior Research Fellow of SVI Islamabad.
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