"Acted irresponsibly to politicize the issue": India blasts UN Special Rapporteur's objection to G20 meet in J&K

New Delhi, May 17: Coming down heavily against United Nations Special Rapporteur (SR) on Minority Issues, India has hit back at him for the objection to the G20 meeting in Srinagar saying that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and that India has the right to hold any event there.

 

India’s reaction came after the UN’s Special Rapporteurs Fernand de Varennes made an absurd statement on India’s decision to hold the G20 meeting in Kashmir while also alleging unwarranted statements against the current chair of the G20.

 

In a strongly worded rebuttal, the Indian mission in Geneva hit out at UN Special Rapporteur Fernand de Varennes for politicising and raising his presumptive and prejudiced conclusions about Jammu and Kashmir. In a statement released debunking the allegations made by the UN diplomat, the Indian Mission said, "We @IndiaUNGeneva strongly reject the statement issued by SR on minority issues @fernanddev & the baseless & unwarranted allegations in it. As G20 President, it’s India’s prerogative to host its meetings in any part of the country."

 

"We are aghast that Fernand de Varennes has acted irresponsibly to politicise this issue, misused his position as SR to publicise on social media his presumptive and prejudiced conclusions in a gross violation of the Code of Conduct for SRs,” the Mission added.

 

 

Notbaly, the G20’s third Tourism Working Group meeting is scheduled in Srinagar and this development attracted a lot of eyeballs as it will be the first significant international event since August 2019, when the state was split into the two UTs of J&K and Ladakh and its special status under Article 370 of the Constitution was revoked.

 

 

With India eyeing the scheduled meeting as an opportunity to showcase to the world that normalcy has returned in the Union Territory, its neighbour Pakistan seems to have been irked by the decision.

 

Earlier this month, Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was on a brief visit to India, too raised objections to New Delhi hosting the G20 meeting in Srinagar during a restricted press briefing in Goa. The Pakistani Minister was, however, strongly rebutted by EAM Dr. S Jaishankar.

 

Responding to a question on Pakistani FM’s comment on the upcoming G20 conference in Srinagar, EAM said, "Pakistan has nothing to do with the G20 and also not with Srinagar. There is only one issue to discuss in Kashmir, which is when Pakistan vacates its illegal occupation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir."