Pakistan condemns India for holding G20 summit in disputed Kashmir

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan on Tuesday "vehemently" condemned India’s decision to hold the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in disputed Jammu and Kashmir next month.

“Pakistan expresses its strong indignation over India’s decision to hold the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar on 22-24 May 2023,” said a Foreign Ministry statement.

“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,” it added.

The third meeting of the G20 Tourism Working Group under India’s G20 Presidency will be held from May 22 to 24 in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

India’s "irresponsible" move, the statement further said, is 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.

Islamabad accused New Delhi of "again" exploiting its membership of an important international grouping for advancing its "self-serving agenda", by holding the forthcoming meeting in a disputed region.

- Disputed region

Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of the region is also controlled by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights groups, thousands of people have been killed and tortured in the conflict since 1989.