G20 meeting at IIJ and K: India suffers major diplomatic setback.

LAHORE -- The global stand taken on the Srinagar meeting by the G20 members and others has recently been preceded by a UN official's statement, criticising India for holding the moot at the Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

On May 15, Fernand de Varennes, UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, said: 'By holding a G20 meeting of the working group on tourism on 22-24 May, 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'."

He warned the G20 of 'unwittingly providing a veneer of support to a facade of normalcy at a time when massive human rights violations, political persecutions, illegal and arbitrary arrests, restrictions and even suppression of free media and human rights defenders continue to escalate.'

The major diplomatic setback India faced when China said on Friday that it was opposed to a G20 tourism meeting on May 22 in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, and it would not attend it. "China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in his statement.

The meeting was scheduled to be the biggest international event in the Indian occupied Kashmir after the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir (J and K) was revoked, and it was split off from Ladakh. Holding the meeting in J and K was apparently showcasing its potential, though hidden beneath it was Indian's nefarious agenda.

The hype about the G20 working group on tourism holding a meeting in occupied Kashmir was lowly coming unstuck. Some members of the G20 decided not to attend at all while some others scaled down their participation.

Kashmir has been a burning issue since the Partition of the Indian Subcontinent in 1947. Pakistan and India have fought three wars over Kashmir in 1948, 1965, and 1999, but have been unable to settle the dispute.

Since 1947, Article 370 had given Jammu and Kashmir a semi-autonomous constitutional status. Earlier, under its provisions, the region had freedom in all matters except its constitution, legislature, flag, foreign affairs, communications and defence.

The UNSC resolution of April 21, 1948, one of the most important resolutions on the Kashmir dispute, resolved: 'Both India and Pakistan desire that the question of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to...