ISLAMABAD: All are part of New Delhi’s effort to welcome G-20 delegates to its part of the illegally occupied Kashmir, the Himalayan territory disputed with its neighbour Pakistan.
According to the Voice of America, the Indian government attempted to exude a sense of normalcy by hosting the third G-20 tourism working group meeting in the illegally occupied Kashmir amid heavy security, and Pakistani Foreign Minister of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto Zardari launched a protest campaign, the status of the 75-year-old major dispute looked murky.
Expressing outrage, Bilawal called India’s decision to hold the first event on its side of illegally occupied Kashmir since revoking its special autonomy almost four years ago a “display of arrogance.”
“That was India sending the message to the globe that we do not believe in international law,” Bilawal Bhutto told VOA. “We can violate United Nations Security Council Resolutions, and you can do nothing about it. And by holding the event in the illegally occupied Kashmir today, they’re sending the same message to their participants and the international world.”
Pakistan’s ex-ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, said: “(This) says something about how the problem itself is defined by the world community, contrary to what India claims [it is seen] as an international dispute.”
She rebuffed the notion that attendance by dozens of G-20 delegates was a quiet endorsement of India’s position on the illegally occupied Kashmir and instead blamed world politics for the continuation of the decades-old issue.
Lodhi said, “The fact that the UN Security Council has been unable to implement its own resolutions on Kashmir … is the reflection of big power politics.”
Fernand de Varennes, the UN special rapporteur on minority problems, recently criticised the G20 meeting, saying that by hosting the session in illegally occupied Kashmir, “India is seeking to normalize what some have described as an army occupation.”
Reeling from decades of separatist militancy that has killed tens of thousands, Indian-administered illegally occupied Kashmir is among the world’s most heavily militarized parts.
Security has been bolstered for the G-20 event, with New Delhi deploying National Security Guards, marine commandos, and Border Security Force personnel to join dedicated police units. As the event drew closer, security moved into the background to give a sense of normalcy amid reports of mass detentions.
