ISLAMABAD
\nForeign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Sunday that India would not be able to \u201csuppress the voices of the people of occupied Kashmir\u201d by holding the G20 moot in the disputed region.
\nThe third meeting of the G20 Tourism Working Group under India\u2019s presidency will be held from May 22 to 24 in Srinagar, according to Indian media.
\nIndia assumed the year-long presidency of the G20 in December last year. It is set to host a leaders\u2019 summit in New Delhi in early September.
\nPakistan has expressed strong indignation at New Delhi\u2019s decision to hold the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in occupied Kashmir and called it a \u201cself-serving move\u201d.
\nTalking to the media today after landing in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on a three-day visit, FM Bilawal said: \u201cIt is not possible for India to play an important role in the world by violating UN resolutions.\u201d
\n\u201cAt a time when India is holding a conference in occupied Kashmir, I have been invited to deliver an address to the AJK Assembly,\u201d the minister said.
\nBilawal stated that he would also attend a protest rally in the Bagh district to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people. \u201cI believe that when a country takes a step like that India has taken, their real face comes forth in front of the world,\u201d he added.
\nIndia has suffered a serious blow as a number of G20 countries have either refused to attend a tourism moot scheduled to begin in Srinagar tomorrow or have yet to commit to attending the event.
\nChina has taken the lead in boycotting the event in the occupied region as its foreign ministry spokesperson said that his country \u201cis firmly opposed to holding \u2026 meetings in the disputed territory\u201d.
\nMoreover, Indian media has reported that Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, both G20 members, have yet to confirm participation while Egypt, which is not a member of the bloc but was invited as a guest, has also not yet registered for the event.
\nMeanwhile, analysts say India is using the G20 meeting in an attempt to normalise what Pakistan describes as a military occupation of the disputed territory and to create an impression of international approval of its Aug 5, 2019 move that violates the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on the disputed status of Kashmir.
\nA UN human rights expert said the meeting would support a \u201cfacade of normalcy\u201d while \u201cmassive human rights violations\u201d continue in the region.
\n\u201cThe government of India is seeking to normalise what some have described as a military occupation by instrumentalising a G20 meeting and portraying an international seal of approval,\u201d said Fernand de Varennes, the special rapporteur on minority issues, in a statement.
\nHe asserted that G20 is \u201cunwittingly\u201d providing a veneer of support to a facade of normalcy at a time when massive human rights violations, illegal and arbitrary arrests, political persecutions, restrictions, and even suppression of free media and human rights defenders continue to escalate.\u201c
\nInternational human rights obligations and the UN Declaration of Human Rights should still be upheld by organisations such as the G20, he said. \u201cThe situation in Jammu and Kashmir should be decried and condemned, not pushed under the rug and ignored with the holding of this meeting,\u201d the statement added.
\nIndia, however, slammed the expert\u2019s statement terming them as \u201cbaseless\u201d and \u201cunwarranted\u201d in its response shared by India\u2019s mission at the UN on Twitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Sunday that India would not be able to \u201csuppress the voices of the people of occupied Kashmir\u201d by holding the G20 moot in the disputed region. The third meeting of the G20 Tourism Working Group under India\u2019s presidency will be held from May 22 to 24 in Srinagar, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-332622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n