Islamabad rejects Delhi’s plan to hold G-20 summit in IIOJK

FO says move disregards globally acknowledged 'disputed' status of territory

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan on Saturday strongly rejected the Indian plan of holding a G-20 summit in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), hoping that members of the influential group would do the same.

India is part of the G-20 grouping comprising major economies of the world, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

India is set to assume the presidency of G-20 in December this year and is planning to host the summit in the occupied region. It has set up a committee to make arrangements for the event.

If India succeeds, it will be the first international event in the disputed region since New Delhi unilaterally revoked the special status of the disputed territory on August 5, 2019.

The Indian move has deepened tensions with Pakistan, which strongly dismissed the changes and termed it a violation of both international laws as well as bilateral understandings between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Read more: Indian forces martyr 62 freedom fighters this year in IIOJK

In recent months, the Indian government has tried to show normalcy in the troubled region by holding investment conference from Gulf countries and is now going a step further with trying to host a G-20 summit.

But the Foreign Office statement made it clear that Pakistan would not accept such a move.

In response to media queries, FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar stated that Pakistan had seen news items appearing in the Indian media indicating that New Delhi might be contemplating holding some G-20-related meeting/event in IIOJK. “Pakistan completely rejects any such attempt by India,” he said.

“Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised 'disputed' territory between Pakistan and India. The territory has been under forcible and illegal occupation of India since 1947 and this dispute has remained on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council for over seven decades.”

The spokesperson noted that India was responsible for widespread atrocities and egregious human rights violations in IIOJK. From the time of India’s illegal and unilateral actions, its occupation forces have killed 639 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 re-confirmed ongoing Indian atrocities against the Kashmiri people.

Also read: JKSM chief urges Pakistan to take ‘concrete steps’ against Indian actions in IIOJK

“Most ominously, India has been seeking to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory in flagrant violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, international law, and the 4th Geneva Convention.

“Contemplating the holding of any G-20 related meeting/event in IIOJK, in utter disregard of the globally acknowledged 'disputed' status of the territory, is a travesty that the international community cannot accept under any circumstances.

“It is expected that in case of any such controversial proposal from India, which would be designed to seek international legitimacy for an illegal and tyrannical occupation continuing for over seven decades, the G-20 members will be fully cognisant of the imperatives of law and justice and would reject it out-right,” the spokesperson said.

Pakistan also strongly urged the international community to call upon India to end its gross and systematic violations of human rights in IIOJK, revoke its illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, and free all political prisoners including the true Kashmiri leaders.

“The only way to lasting peace in South Asia is by granting the people of IIOJK their inalienable right to self-determination as pledged to them in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” he said.