The Pakistani Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed "strong indignation" over India's decision to host a meeting of the G20 working group on tourism in the city of Srinagar in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th April, 2023) The Pakistani Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed "strong indignation" over India's decision to host a meeting of the G20 working group on tourism in the city of Srinagar in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.
"Pakistan expresses its strong indignation over India's decision to hold the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar on 22-24 May 2023. Scheduling of two other meetings of a consultative forum on youth affairs (Y-20) in Leh and Srinagar in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is equally disconcerting," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry added that by holding the G20 meeting in the disputed region, India was "exploiting" its membership in an important international group for advancing "its self-serving agenda."
India assumed the presidency of the G20 in December and will hold it until November 30, with around 200 meetings of the group at different levels expected to take place throughout 2023. The main event during the Indian presidency, the top-level G20 summit, is scheduled to take place in New Delhi from September 9-10.
Pakistan and India have fought several wars over Kashmir since 1947. Tensions hit rock bottom in 2019 after the Indian government stripped the Jammu and Kashmir state of its special status and broke it up into two union territories.
India controls the southern part of the Kashmir region, while Pakistan and China hold its northwestern and northeastern parts, respectively.
