G20 huddle in occupied Kashmir

Amid India’s irresponsible decision to hold G20 meetings in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and Pakistan’s ongoing fury, a weighty news item did not receive as much attention as it deserved. According to Ina Krishnamurti, Indonesia’s ambassador to India, Jakarta has yet to decide whether its delegation will attend the G20 huddles in Kashmir or not. Indonesia has historically been an ally of Pakistan. During the 1965 war, Indonesia’s stance was markedly pro-Pakistan.

Retired Air Marshal Muhammad Asghar Khan asserted in his book ‘The First Round’ that Sukarno (the then president of the Republic of Indonesia) treated India’s war on Pakistan as an attack on Indonesia and said his government was “duty bound” to support Islamabad in whatever way possible. However, Indonesia had maintained impartiality over the Kashmir issue in the past few years. Despite having closer economic ties with India over the past decade, Indonesia’s hesitation in deciding about attending the Jammu and Kashmir chapter of G20 meet speaks volumes about the diplomatic offensive Pakistan has mounted against New Delhi from holding any event or meeting of the grouping in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU) which strives to address important global economic concerns like international financial stability, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainable development. The G20 Summit is held annually with a rotating presidency, and during its presidency in 2023, India is deftly attempting to use this forum to achieve specific geopolitical and internal political goals by aiming to organise G20 meetings in IIOJK in utter defiance of the UN Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the UN Charter. Pakistan has vehemently condemned India’s move to engineer a façade of normalcy in IIOJK.

India is hosting a significant international event in the internationally recognised and UNSC mandated disputed region for the first time since the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi unilaterally abolished its special status in August 2019 and divided it into two federally controlled union territories. Despite India’s attempts to fake normalcy in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, public anger with New Delhi is still rife. The region continues to be the most densely militarized zone on earth with the presence of over one million military and paramilitary personnel. There are continuous crackdowns on the right to protest and freedom of speech.

Press restrictions in Kashmir are especially draconian. At least 35 Kashmiri journalists have suffered police interrogation, raids, threats, physical assault, or criminal cases since 2019 in connection with their work, according to the Human Rights Watch report of 2022. The space for media has drastically eroded since the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A of the Indian Constitution. Newspapers have been reduced to extensions of the government’s PR department. Award winning journalists like Asif Sultan and Fahad Shah are undergoing incarceration on terrorism charges for performing their professional duties and are facing potential life imprisonment. Similar is the case with human rights activists, Khurram Parvez to name one. Kashmir’s Central Press Club remains forcibly closed by the authorities. As if harassment, false incriminations and unlawful detentions are not enough, Kashmiri journalists and human rights activists are also being brazenly barred from travelling outside of India to attend events related to their sphere of duty. In 2019, independent journalist Gowhar Geelani was stopped at New Delhi airport when he was on his way to Germany to join a job. In 2021, two other Kashmiri journalists - Zahid Rafiq and Ruwa Shah - were barred from flying abroad. In 2022, Pulitzer-winning Kashmiri journalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo was stopped from travelling to the US by immigration authorities at Delhi airport. And none of them was given any explanation by the despotic regime for curtailment of their fundamental right.

Amnesty International, a renowned human rights watchdog, maintains that the Indian government has drastically increased repression in Jammu and Kashmir and has been employing illegal tactics and unfair barriers to restrict various rights there. According to Aakar Patel of Amnesty India, the civil society and media in the region have been the targets of a vicious crackdown by the Indian government, which is determined to stifle dissent using draconian laws, policies, and unlawful practices in their arsenal. India is definitely using the land of Kashmir to serve its self-interest but Kashmiris are nowhere in the scheme. They continue to endure siege and search operations, repression and restrictions. In addition to consolidating its unlawful control over the internationally acknowledged disputed area, India is attempting to use this occasion to create the false impression that the people of Kashmir have fully embraced its forcible annexation. Although India is forcing Kashmir to remain silent, it expects intense protests and strikes from Kashmiris during the huddles. That the resentment may turn violent and that the law and order situation may deteriorate is fretting her. The recent developments in the region have raised serious concerns about the safety and security of the delegates attending the moot.

China, which is a very important permanent member of the organisation, has voiced opposition to India’s proposal to convene the G-20 summit in IIOJK and has urged the group’s members to concentrate on the economic recovery rather than indulging themselves into controversial geopolitical issues. China has already boycotted the G-20 meeting hosted last month in Arunachal Pradesh as well as a Y-20 meeting in Leh city of Ladakh region in connection with its principled stance on the festering Kashmir dispute. It is obvious now that China will not be attending the Srinagar huddles either.

All eyes are now set on the three G-20 nations which are also members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that whether or not they will skip the meeting in IIOJK. Turkey has always, unwaveringly, supported Pakistan’s position on Kashmir. Similar to other OIC members, Saudi Arabia has also consistently maintained that the Kashmir issue should be resolved in accordance with the UNSC resolutions. The OIC has criticized India in a number of declarations over its decision to annex Jammu and Kashmir by force in 2019. Despite the growing ties between KSA and India, it is anticipated that KSA will oppose the proposed gatherings in IIOJK due to Pakistan’s diplomatic reach out.

Brett Scheafer, editor and contributor to the book, “Conundrums: The Limits of the UN and Search for the Alternatives” has recently published a report on the role G20 should play. According to him, “geopolitical rivalries could seize up the forum, as disagreements in one area bleed over to impede cooperation even where differences are slight. Under such a scenario, the G20 could continue to meet, but water down commitments to secure agreement and consensus the utility of the G20 as a forum for addressing global issues would similarly diminish.”

The G20 is already in danger of failing due to escalating geopolitical tensions among China, Europe, Russia, and the United States. Its legitimacy, credibility and adherence to international norms will be further questioned by India’s move to exploit this important international group to subtly seek its consent to its genocide atrocities, egregious repression of civil liberties and human rights in occupied Kashmir.

This premier forum for international economic cooperation must not give the Kashmiri Muslims feels of being ditched by the international community. It must not side with the oppressor in its diabolic tyranny and genocidal designs to deny them their inalienable human rights. G20 must avoid establishing an unfair precedence for the suppressed people and their oppressors in the world. If India succeeds in manoeuvring its presidency to get credence to its violations of UNSC resolutions and international commitments, other countries with geopolitical and domestic national interests will also be emboldened to follow the lead.

The writer is a social and political analyst in Muzaffarabad. She tweets @NylaKayani