IN yet utter disregard of international laws, India has fixed the date for the G-20 meeting in Srinagar, ignoring the protests of China and Pakistan. India updated its G-20 calendar, saying the working group meeting on tourism would be held in Srinagar from May 22 to 24.
This is nothing but yet another attempt on the part of New Delhi to seek international legitimacy for an illegal and tyrannical occupation that is continuing for over seven decades in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The fact of the matter is that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory and nobody can negate it as it is also on agenda of the UN Security Council. International events such as that of G-20 cannot be held in disputed territories. Contemplating to do so will be a travesty that the international community cannot and should not accept under any circumstances. By hosting such events in the disputed territory India is trying to portray normalcy there. However, the ground situation is quite opposite to the Indian claims as occupying forces are involved in grave human rights abuses. Since illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, Indian occupation forces have killed hundreds of innocent Kashmiris in extra-judicial murders. Numerous reports of the UN, including the two commissioned by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in 2018 and 2019, have reconfirmed ongoing Indian atrocities against the Kashmiri people. We expect that both Pakistan and China will contact the likeminded countries and convince them to stay away from attending a meeting in Srinagar as it will only amount to rubbing salt on the wounds of oppressed Kashmiri people who are looking towards the international community to fulfil the promises made to them for the right to self determination. The G-20 members will be fully cognizant of the imperatives of law and justice and should reject it out-right. Instead there should be a joint call on India to end its blatant human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and move towards its resolution for lasting peace in South Asia.
