While China, Oman, Turkey and Egypt skipped the G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar, now Saudi has made a clear stand to not attend any meeting in the Kashmir province to avoid controversy. Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) along with China considers the region as disputed land and holds a strong view on Kashmir.
The chief coordinator of the G20, Harshavdhan Shringla while interacting with the media, stated that the three-day meeting from May 22 to May 24 witnessed more impressive participation of foreign delegates compared to the two previous ones.
Egypt was reportedly invited to the G20 event, which began on 22 May, amid tight security.
Although, India holds strong diplomatic relations with Egypt. The country’s president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was the chief guest at India’s 2023 Republic Day parade.
As per a report of The Print, Indonesia was also speculated to skip the G20 event in Kashmir, however, it sent representatives from its mission in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, 120 foreign delegates from 17 countries reached the city on Monday, accompanied by Union tourism minister G. Kishan Reddy and former Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. They received a grand welcome at Sheikh ul Alam Srinagar Airport in traditional ways.
On the other side, China and Turkey share straightforward views on Kashmir by siding with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.
On 14 February 2020, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Pakistan and voiced the issue of Kashmir during his speech in the Pakistani Parliament and announced Turkey’s support to Pakistan over Kashmir.
A PTI quoted a report of Beijing’s Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin as saying: “China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meetings on disputed territory… We will not attend such meetings.”
Speaking about India hosting the G20 tourism working group meeting in Srinagar, Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claimed, “It was a violation of international law”. Pakistan tried to internationalise the Kashmir issue at bilateral and multilateral forums but with little success.
First-ever international event in J&K since the abrogation of Article 370
The G20 meeting would be the first international event held in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, leading to a division between the erstwhile state of J&K into Union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
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