Friends of Pakistan shun India's G20 meet in Srinagar.

SRINAGAR -- India's presidency of the G20 group was mired in embarrassment on Monday, as it began a meeting on tourism in Srinagar amid boycott by China and Saudi Arabia and a very low-level participation from many other friends of Pakistan.

China already opposed the May 22-24 Working Group meet on Tourism in the internationally recognised disputed territory while other key members, including Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Mexico, also avoided a full-fledged participation in the event.

The three-day gathering is taking place at a well-guarded complex on the shores of Dal Lake in Srinagar. With the meeting, New Delhi had hoped to project an image of normalcy in the disputed territory, according to several media reports.

The meeting began amid clampdown in sensitive areas of the summer capital of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Soldiers and armoured vehicles were deployed at multiple locations in Srinagar.

India had turned the region into an equivalent of the Guantanamo Bay prison simply to hold a meeting on tourism, former IIOJK chief minister Mehbooba Mufti...