ISLAMABAD     -   India has created another controversy by announcing it might host the G-20 related meeting in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The idea violates the UN resolutions that accept Kashmir as a disputed territory. India has already illegally merged the disputed Kashmir into its Union Territory. The latest controversy by India comes amid crushing of minorities and victimization of the Muslims by the extremists in India. The bloodshed in held Kashmir Pakistan has already rejected any move to hold some G-20-related event in IIOJK. “As is well-known, Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized “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,” said Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed.

Ignoring the international norms, India has constituted a five-member coordination committee for G-20 meetings in disputed Kashmir next year. The G-20 members represent more than 80% of the world’s GDP, 75% of international trade and 60% of the world’s population and Pakistan expects all these countries to ask India to host the event at an undisputed area.

G-20 member nations include 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 will also be getting the Presidency of the G-20 from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. G-20 plays a key role in Global Economic Governance. This could be the first major international summit to be held in occupied Jammu and Kashmir after the occupied territory’s special status was unlawfully abrogated and it was illegally divided into two Union territories on 5 August 2019. The illegally announcement by India to hold the G-20 event is another attempt to give legal cover to the illegal step by India to merge Kashmir into its Union Territory. India is responsible for widespread atrocities and egregious human rights violations in IIOJK. Since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, Indian 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 in 2018 and 2019, have re-confirmed ongoing Indian atrocities against the Kashmiri people. 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 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.

FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said: “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 7 decades, the G20 members will be fully cognizant of the imperatives of law and justice and would reject it out-right.” International Relations expert Dr Zahid Anwar Khan said Pakistan has a clear stance on the Kashmir issue that the Kashmir is a major diuspute between Pakistan and India issue must be resolved in accordance with UN resolutions. “The National Assembly has passed a unanimous resolution condemning the illegal and unilateral Indian efforts to change the demography of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan wants an end to the BJP’s controversial policies in IIOJK inspired by Hindutva ideology,” he said.

Khan said the Indian regime was focusing to convert Muslim majority areas in the valley to Hindu majority areas. “It is unfortunate that the world organizations and United Nations are not playing the role to resolve the Kashmir dispute as was expected. It is the time that OIC must have to play a pro-active role to develop a consensus to ensure the smooth implementation of UN resolutions as per which the Kashmiris must be given the right to self-determination. The world has to keep its double standards and national interests aside and make serious efforts to end the sufferings of Kashmiri people,” he added.