Pakistan rejects Indian govt plans to hold G20 summit in IIOJK

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday strongly rejected the Indian govt’s reported plan to hold a G20-related event or meeting in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said, “Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory between Pakistan and India and the dispute remains on the agenda of the UN Security Council for over seven decades.”

“It is expected that in case of any controversial proposal from India, designed to seek legitimacy for its illegal and tyrannical occupation of the territory, the G20 members will be fully cognizant of the imperatives of law and justice and would reject it out-right,” the statement read.

The FO strongly urged the international community to call upon India to end its gross and systematic human rights violations in IIOJK, revoke its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 and free all political prisoners including the Kashmiri leaders.

He reiterated Pakistan’s stance that the only way to lasting peace in South Asia is by granting the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, their inalienable right to self-determination under the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

The Spokesperson said: “Since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5th August 2019, Indian occupation forces have killed 639 innocent Kashmiris in extra-judicial murders.

He further said several reports of the United Nations have re-confirmed the ongoing Indian atrocities against the Kashmiri people.

“India has been seeking to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory in flagrant violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and international law,” it added.