China and Pakistan have both condemned India for holding the event in the Muslim-majority Kashmir, a region that has been disputed between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Both countries claim the region in its entirety but only govern parts of it. They have fought three wars since independence from the United Kingdom in 1947 over Kashmir.
A large number of people gathered in Bagh city chanting “Boycott Boycott – G20 Boycott”, “Indian tyrants, leave Jammu and Kashmir” slogans. They were also holding banners and placards bearing phrases condemning the human rights violations by India in IIOJK. The protestors also took out a rally from Zaman Chowk to Sajjad Shaheed Chowk.
Addressing the demonstrators, the speakers said under the UN Charter an international event cannot be held in a disputed region. They said India is trying to use an international forum to achieve military objectives in IIOJK.
The demonstration was attended among others by Pasban-e-Hurriyat Chairman Uzair Ahmed Ghazali, Vice Chairman Usman Ali Hashim, Muhammad Shafi Kashmiri, Irshad Ahmed Butt, Dawood Ayub, Raja Abdul Hafeez, Muhammad Latif Lone, Chaudhry Muhammad Altaf, Chaudhry Aziz, Jahanzaib Mir, Tahir Ahmad Abbasi, Shaukat Taimur, Akseer Awan, Chaudhry Amanullah Mani and Khawaja Saif-ud-Din.
India, which holds the chair of G20 this year, has organised a series of meetings across the country in the run-up to the summit in New Delhi in September.
“China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Friday.
India-Pakistan relations have been frozen since 2019 when New Delhi changed the status of Jammu and Kashmir state, ended its special status and converted it into a federal territory.
It split the state to create the two federal territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. A large chunk of Ladakh is under Chinese control.
The Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir has been roiled for decades by a rebellion seeking independence or merger with Pakistan, with tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and Kashmiri rebels killed in the conflict.
Ties between New Delhi and Beijing have also been strained since a military clash in Ladakh in 2020 in which 24 soldiers were killed.
Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, will host a meeting of the tourism working group for G20 members on May 22 to 24. India has countered the objection, saying it is free to hold meetings on its own territory.
On Friday, it said peace and tranquillity on its border are essential for normal ties with China.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the relationship between the nuclear-armed neighbours can only be based on mutual respect, sensitivity and interest, in comments that mark a rare articulation of New Delhi’s position since ties with Beijing deteriorated in 2020.
“India is fully prepared and committed to protect its sovereignty and dignity,” Modi said in an interview with Nikkei Asia ahead of his visit to Japan to attend the G7 summit.
The three-day gathering takes place at a sprawling, well-guarded venue on the shores of Dal Lake in Srinagar. Police said security was beefed up “at vulnerable locations to avoid any chance of terrorist attack during the G20” meeting.
On Friday, elite Indian commandos patrolled the streets of Srinagar. Roads leading to the location have been freshly black-topped, and electricity poles lit up in the colours of India’s national flag to show what officials say is “normalcy and peace returning” to the region.
India has been promoting tourism in Kashmir and more than a million of its citizens visited last year.
India has tightened security for next week’s meeting of G20 tourism officials in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region, which is expected to see China and Turkiye skipping the talks, reports said on Friday.
The G20, made up of the world’s largest economies, has a rolling presidency with a different member state in charge of the group’s agenda and priorities each year.
India is steering the group in 2023 and analysts say it is using the G20 meeting in an attempt to normalise what Pakistan describes as a military occupation of the disputed territory and to create an impression of international approval to its Aug 5, 2019 move that violates UNSC resolution on the disputed status of Kashmir.
While Pakistan has already opposed the Srinagar meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin in its Friday press briefing said, “China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings.”
By holding a G20 meeting of the working group on tourism on May 22-24, Fernand de Varennes said: “The Government of India is seeking to normalise what some have described as a military occupation by instrumentalizing a G20 meeting and portray an international ‘seal of approval’.”
A UN human rights expert said the meeting would support a “facade of normalcy” while “massive human rights violations” continue in the region.
“The government of India is seeking to normalise what some have described as a military occupation by instrumentalising a G20 meeting and portray an international seal of approval,” said Fernand de Varennes, the special rapporteur on minority issues, in a statement.
Mehbooba Mufti, the region’s former top elected official, said police had detained hundreds of Kashmiris ahead of the meeting. In a party newsletter, she alleged there has been an “unprecedented surge in arrests, raids, surveillance and persecution of our people” ahead of the event.
However, police claimed there was a need to enhance the security measures at vulnerable locations to “avoid any chance of terrorist attack” during the G20 meeting.
In New Delhi’s effort to shape what it calls “Naya Kashmir,” or a “new Kashmir,” the territory’s people and its press have been largely silenced.“
“This is despite what Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, told the UN Human Rights Council a few weeks ago was a worrying human rights situation in the Kashmir region.”
Fernand de Varennes asserted that G20 is “unwittingly” providing a veneer of support to a facade of normalcy at a time when massive human rights violations, illegal and arbitrary arrests, political persecutions, restrictions and even suppression of free media and human rights defenders continue to escalate.“
International human rights obligations and the UN Declaration of Human Rights should still be upheld by organisations such as the G20, he said. “The situation in Jammu and Kashmir should be decried and condemned, not pushed under the rug and ignored with the holding of this meeting,” the statement added.
India, however, slammed the expert’s statement terming them as “baseless” and “unwarranted” in its response shared by India’s mission at the UN on Twitter.
