It is welcome to note that both China and Turkey, on the request of Pakistan, have declined to attend the G-20 moot in the disputed territory of Kashmir valley. They did so on the request of Pakistan, which has also appealed to other world countries not to attend these talks in held valley as the region is disputed and India has no rights to host the world moot in this region.

As a matter of fact, by holding the G20 moot in the held valley, India is giving the world an impression that Kashmir is its part, but in reality the Kashmir issue is in the UN and it has to be solved according to the UN resolution which calls for plebiscite in the held valley but the same (plebiscite) could not be held there as India is not allowing it and has forcefully occupied the valley.

The G20 consists of the biggest world economies, and as par its rules, the presidency of this Group rolls. As a result, every year, a different member state has the chance to be at the helm of its affairs each year and change its priorities accordingly.

India is directing the G20 in the current year and it uses this occasion as an opportunity to host the summit in disputed region of Kashmir to show to the world that Kashmir it is part and that the Modi’s Govt Aug. 5 2019 unconstitutional, in the held valley are validated.  In fact, India has been making attempts to legitimize its illegal occupation of the held valley which is a disputed region as per the UN Resolution and which is the in the UN SC for decades.

Whether it is the Kashmiris in occupied valley or the Muslims in Assam or elsewhere in India, Muslim population is being targeted and subjected to extreme discrimination and violence. Sometimes, their businesses are targeted in the name of Halal business when the Hindu fanatics led by the Modi regime men boycotted the halal meat business to commit the economic murder of Muslims and render them helpless economically. In Haryana state, Muslims worshippers were even stopped from offering their prayers in the open which is violation of their rights as the Indian Constitution guarantees them right to exercise their religion. That Muslims are the target of abuse in India has also been acknowledged by the international HR organizations. The US State Department Report has also mentioned about Muslim population of India being victimized and subjected to abuse and discrimination. Even forcible displacement and lynching cases is a common scene in India. Indian government has applied different forms of strategies and suppress the peaceful resistance of the people of Indian held Kashmir. To showcase normalcy, the Indian Govt plans to hold G-20 meeting in held Kashmir to whitewash its crimes. Human Rights experts say that Indian bid to host G-20 moot in held-Kashmir must be thwarted.  The fresh reign of terror unleashed by Modi regime in Kashmir since 2019 and which is an integral part of the wider BJP Hindu nationalist agenda, is becoming extreme in nature with the passage of time.  Though Kashmiris have been suffering the human rights violations since 1948, but with the Modi’s new dark chapter is another addition to the long and never ending list of Indian atrocities in held Kashmir.

And in its latest anti-Kashmiris agenda, the Modi-led BJP government has revealed fresh plans to hold the next year G-20 moot in held valley and to this effect, the Indian government tightened security for this large scale moot. The Pakistan coalition govt of the day has done the right thing to have out-rightly and ‘completely rejected’ this Indian attempt in the wake of Kashmir’s internationally and globally recognized disputed position which has been forcefully occupied by India since 1947 and the issue in the UNSC and which has also been globally recognized by the world community to be a disputed territory between the two Asian rivals. Though Kashmiris have been dying unsung since 1947 due to Indian atrocities, but under Modi’s regime, a new black chapter has been opened which is marked by widespread atrocities and grave human rights violations in the held territory since 2019 with the Modi government’s unconstitutional and illegal move to end separate status of Kashmiri as guaranteed to it under the Indian Constitution and its bid to submerge it with Indian government.

It was in 2019 that Modi Sarkar revoked the entire Article 370 of the Indian constitutions and stripped the  held valley of certain amount of autonomy after over seven decades in violation of the Indian Constitutions. Under this article, Kashmiris had the rights to make their own constitution, a separate flag and also had freedom to make their own laws. Under this article, the Foreign office, defence ministry and communications remained the preserve of the central government, but in other affairs, the Kashmiris were free to some extent. As a result, Jammu and Kashmir could make its own rules like obtaining domicles etc, ownership of property  etc. However, the Modi government revoked that article.

Since then an unprecedented new wave of  violence and extra judicial murders and harassment is underway in the held valley. Right now India is busy in making concerted bids and attempt to change  the demographic structure of the occupied valley which is a grave violation of UN Security Council resolution which shows Kashmir to be disputed region between India and Pakistan and which is to be settled according to a UN resolution which called for plebiscite in Kashmir. And now with fresh move of finalizing arrangements and beefing up security for hosting of G20-related moots in the held valley shows how disrespectful and disregard of the globally acknowledged “disputed” status of the territory is being shown by India. The world should not accept this demand of India and should not attend  the G-20 related moot in held valley.

There is no international legitimacy for this illegal act of the Modi government as India is holding tyrannical occupation in the held valley  since 1947. The G20 members should refuse to attend the moot. They should know that held valley is a disputed region and the issue is in the UN.

It may be mentioned here that the United Nations human rights analyst has flayed the Indian move to host the G20 working group summit in the held saying “the moot would support a “facade of normalcy” while “massive human rights violations” continue in the region, the UN experts was quoted as saying.

The former held-Kashmir parliamentarian Mehbooba Mufti, statement in which she has exposed the  massive arrests, surveillance and abduction of Kashmiris ahead of the G20 meeting in the held valley is also an eye opener for the world, which can see for itself that situation is Kashmir is extremely bad.

Published in The Daily National Courier, May, 22 2023

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