Pakistan criticizes India for organizing G20 meet in Kashmir
Islamabad, Apr 11 (EFE).- Pakistan expressed its “strong indignation” on Tuesday at India’s decision to organize a G20 meeting on its side of Kashmir, a region divided between the two neighboring countries but claimed entirely by both.
“Pakistan expresses its strong indignation over India’s decision to hold the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar (the main city in Indian Kashmir) on 22-24 May 2023,” a Pakistan foreign ministry statement said.
The ministry also criticized the scheduling of two other meetings of a consultative forum on youth affairs (Y-20) in Srinagar and Leh, in the neighboring Ladakh region.
India, which currently holds the presidency of the Group of 20, “is again exploiting its membership of an important international grouping for advancing its self-serving agenda” and perpetuating “its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir,” according to Pakistan.
Islamabad also accused New Delhi of making “illegal attempts to change the demographic composition of the occupied territory.”
Kashmir is a Muslim majority region that has been directly administered by the Indian federal government since 2019.
In August 2019, the Indian government ended the region’s semi-autonomous status and imposed harsh restrictions for months, including a total blockade of communications.
The event planned for G20 will be the first international event to be held in Kashmir.
The Indian government justified these measures as a way to boost development, and has now been allowing companies or individuals from outside the region to settle there, which earlier was not permitted under the special status it enjoyed.
India and Pakistan, two nuclear armed neighbors, have had strained relations for decades, mainly due to their dispute over the Kashmir region, over which they have waged two wars and had several minor conflicts. EFE
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