- Saturday, April 27, 2024
The meeting, which will be held during May 22-24, is being seen as one of the biggest international events to be held in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution by the Modi government.
By: Shubham Ghosh
The upcoming tourism working group meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India, is set to witness a low-level participation from several nations while China and Turkey, members of the G20, will not take part in the event, the Hindustan Times reported citing informed sources.
The meeting, which will be held during May 22-24, is being seen as one of the biggest international events to be held in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which gave it special status, by the Narendra Modi government in August 2019. The former state was converted into a Union Territory (UT), bringing it under the direct rule of New Delhi, and the move was slammed by the opposition at home and the neighbouring state of Pakistan.
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Meanwhile, tight security arrangements were in place around Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre, the venue of the event, located on the banks of Srinagar’s famous Dal Lake. It was also not clear if Indonesia, the previous president of the G20 from which India took over last December, would take part in the meeting in the summer capital of the UT, the Hindustan Times report added.
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New Delhi has dismissed Islamabad’s objections over holding G20 meetings in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which was also made a UT in 2019, saying such events are being held in all states and UTs in the country ahead of the G20 summit in New Delhi in September.
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The sources said China, which kept away from a G20 meeting in the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh in March, and Turkey will not attend the Srinagar event. While Beijing’s decision is apparently connected to objections raised by its all-weather ally Pakistan, Ankara has been critical of New Delhi’s handling of the Kashmir situation in past years.
Besides the two nations, several other countries that have been invited by the host country to take part in the G20 process are expected to see a low-level participation at the Kashmir event, the sources added. These nations are likely to be represented by diplomatic officials from their embassies in New Delhi instead of people from their respective capitals, the sources told the Indian daily.
Saudi Arabia and Mexico are two likely of those countries.
