Failure of G-20 Summit in Kashmir

By Sajjad Shaukat

It is highly contradictory that Indian Prime Minister Narendar Modi’s fake drama to host G-20 summit on May 22-24, this year in the disputed territory of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) badly failed. India wanted to show to the international community that circumstances are normal there, while Kashmiris’ indigenous freedom struggle still continues.

However, New Delhi’s intentions also to hold its third G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar was a great diplomatic blow for India, as a number of important countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye (Turkey), Egypt, Indonesia and Mexico refused to participate in the conference.

Earlier, Indian media had reported that numerous corporate leaders, businessmen and diplomats, from Middle Eastern countries, have indeed toured Jammu & Kashmir (Jammu and Kashmir) in the past few months to investigate opportunities to invest in the so-called Union Territory.

Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and living abroad observed complete shutdown on May 22, 2023 against holding of G-20 meeting in Srinagar by fascist Modi government.

On the call by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC)—supported by other Hurriyat leaders and organizations, there was widespread shutdown in the IIOJK. While, shopkeepers mostly from Lal Chowk, Residency Road, Budshaw Chowk, Maisuma and other areas of Srinagar were warned of dire consequences for not obeying the order to open shops. Despite this, most of the Kashmiri business community closed shops to register their protest.

Besides, the protests were held in more than 15 cities, including New York, London, Brussels and in various European countries.

Addressing the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri brethren against India’s violation of international laws by conducting the G-20 meetings in the UN-recognized disputed territory. He stated that Jammu and Kashmir issue is and will remain cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy—Pakistan will continue to lend unstinted moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmiri people until the realization of their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry said that Indian bid to host G-20 conference in Srinagar is meant to create an impression that everything is fine in its illegally occupied part of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) State, while India has deployed over 900,000 military and paramilitary troops who have turned the region into a slaughterhouse.

Meanwhile, speakers addressing a sit-in protest organized by APHC-AJK chapter outside the United Nations office in Islamabad on May 22, this year called for settlement of the Kashmir dispute through exercise of the right to self-determination. The participants submitted a memorandum to the UN office drawing the attention of Antonio Guterres towards the Indian government’s Machiavellian move to host G-20’s working group meeting.

Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti pointed out that Modi regime has turned occupied Jammu and Kashmir into the notorious American military prison, Guantanamo.

In this respect, Fernand de Varennes, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues remarked that 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.

Nevertheless, it was the first international event of this scale, New Delhi’s decision to hold in the disputed, Muslim-majority region since August 5, 2019 when Indian Prime Minister Modi’s extremist government revoked articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, which gave a special status to the IIOJK. Indian government bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to be ruled by the federal government. On the same day, strict military lockdown was imposed in the IIOJK which continues unabated.

Ladakh is a disputed region along the Line of Actual Control, a de-facto border between India and China. Both countries claim parts of it.

In this regard, citing its opposition “to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory”, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin clarified that it would not attend the G-20 meeting.

In this connection Kashmir Media Service (KMS) wrote on May 23, this year: “India’s attempt to normalize its occupation of Kashmir suffered a serious blow as a number of G20 countries refused to attend moot in Srinagar. China took the lead in boycotting the event by firmly opposing to holding meetings in disputed territory. Experts believe that the G20 boycott by key player like China is seen as a failed diplomatic attempt by India to normalize its illegal hold of Kashmir. The UK-based newspaper The Guardian while commenting on the G20 meeting wrote that India’s presidency of the group has become mired in controversy after the boycott by China and other important member countries…AFP, under the headline “A G20 tourism meeting began on Monday in Kashmir”, wrote that “Delhi seeks to project an image of normality in a region wracked for decades by violence. Both China and Pakistan have condemned holding the event in the disputed Muslim-majority territory, which is split between New Delhi and Islamabad, both of whom claim it in full…Does the Modi government think that tourism can be promoted in closed conference halls next to a scenic lake being patrolled by marine commandos, with surveillance drones overhead?…To visit Kashmir, foreign journalists require special permission, which is not normally forthcoming, though it has been granted for the G20 meeting.”

In this this context, under the caption: India Projects Image of Normalcy From Kashmir-Brings the G-20 to Kashmir, Kugelman Michael wrote on April 13, this year in the Foreign Policy Com:

“The region remains heavily militarized, with continuing crackdowns on the right to protest and freedom of speech. One Kashmiri who requested anonymity, said that India’s G-20 meeting in Srinagar is just an “attempt to fake normalcy”, while repression persists.”

Recently, Indian defence sources admitted that five Indian soldiers were killed in first of its kind ambush attack on a moving military truck on April 20, 2023 by the militants in Jammu region’s Poonch district.The assault came at the time when the Jammu and Kashmir government was preparing for G-20 conference in Srinagar. Indian Union Home Minister Amit Shah took a detailed security review earlier for the success of the event.

Notably, Islamabad on June 25 last year had opposed India’s plans to hold some G-20 events in Kashmir in the run up to hosting the summit in 2023. In this respect, in a statement, Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) said: “Pakistan completely rejects any such attempt by India…Contemplating the holding of any G 20 related event in Jammu and Kashmir, in utter disregard of the globally acknowledged ‘disputed’ status of the territory, is a travesty that the international community cannot accept under any circumstances.”

The statement added: “Pakistan also urged the international community to ask India to revoke its actions of August 5, 2019, and free all political prisoners. The only way to lasting peace in South Asia is to grant the people of J&K their right to self-determination.”

In a foreign ministry statement on April 11, 2023, Islamabad expressed almost similar thoughts, mentioned in the FO statement. 

While, under a well-planned hidden agenda, Modi-led regime has intensified, bringing ethno-demographic changes in the IIOJK. In this context, Indian various moves such as amendment of the laws, allowing Indian citizens to buy land in the IIOJK, issuance of domicile certificates to more than 800000 non-Kashmiris, registration of almost 2.5 million new non-local voters in the IIOJK etc. might be cited as instance. So, the Indian government introduced many new laws and amended several others to facilitate non-Kashmiris and outsiders in order to usurp the rights of the Muslim Kashmiris.

And despite the deployment of more than 900,000 military troops in the IIOJK, who have martyred tens of thousands of the Kashmiris, including women and children through brutal tactics-fake encounters—employment of various draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the Public Safety Act (PSA) for arbitrarily arrest of any individual etc., Kashmiris have accelerated the war of liberation, being waged for their right of self-determination, which was recognized by the related UN resolutions.

Nonetheless, reaction of the many entities especially Pakistanis and the worldwide protests held by Kashmiris against the G-20 summit have further internationalized the Kashmir issue.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: [email protected]