ISLAMABAD: Pakistan unequivocally dismissed India’s bid to organize the G20 summit in the Indian illegally occupied Kashmir (IIOJK), emphasizing that the region is currently under the unlawful and coercive control of New Delhi.
Following the Indian government’s announcement of scheduling the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar from May 22 to May 24, 2023, the Foreign Office released a statement rejecting the move.
“Scheduling of two other meetings of a consultative forum on youth affairs (Y-20) in Leh and Srinagar in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is equally disconcerting,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch on Tuesday said in a statement.
She said India’s irresponsible move was the latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in sheer disregard of the UN Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law. “Pakistan vehemently condemns these moves,” reads the statement.
“Such events cannot hide the reality of Jammu and Kashmir being an internationally recognised dispute that has remained on the agenda of United Nations Security Council for over seven decades. Nor could such activities divert international community’s attention from India’s brutal suppression of the people of IIOJK including illegal attempts to change the demographic composition of the occupied territory,” Ms Baloch said.
With its decision to host G-20 events in IIOJK, the FO spokesperson said India was again exploiting its membership of an important international grouping for advancing its self-serving agenda.
“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,” she concluded.
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