The third G20 working group meeting on tourism has begun in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, amid a diplomatic spat between the host India and China together with Pakistan that objected to holding the meeting in a “disputed territory".
It is the first major international event to be organised after August 5, 2019, when the Muslim-majority region’s autonomous status was scrapped, raising fears that Muslims would be rendered a powerless minority.
The event in the region’s capital Srinagar will see the participation of delegates from guest countries and several international organisations, besides representatives from the member nations.
Since then, the Hindu nationalist Indian government has been pushing the narrative that the region was like any other part of India and its autonomy had been a hindrance to its economic development, in addition to breeding separatism.
The three-day meet will conclude on Wednesday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin last week said his country “firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meetings on disputed territory".
“We will not attend such meetings," he added. China holds a small part of the erstwhile region of Jammu of Kashmir, while India and Pakistan administer two bigger territories.
Both claim the territory in full. It had called the August 5, 2019 decision, which divided the region into two federally ruled territories besides scrapping its autonomy, an “assault” on its sovereignty.
'Irresponsible'
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry in a statement said: "India's irresponsible move is the latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir."
India rejected the statements and added that the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh “are and always will be integral and inalienable parts of India".
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Mexico have reportedly opted for low-level representation.
The sharpest criticism of the event came from UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes, who said “holding a G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir while massive human rights violations are ongoing is lending support to attempts by India to normalize the brutal and repressive denial of democratic and other rights of Kashmiri Muslims and minorities.”India's diplomatic mission in Geneva rejected Varennes’ statement as “baseless and unwarranted.”
