MUZAFFARABAD: Con­ve­ner of the All Parties Hurriyat Conf­e­rence (APHC) Mehmood Ahmed Saghar has called upon four im­­p­o­r­­tant friendly states to boycott G20 upcoming meeting being deliberately hosted by India in Srinagar, the capital of the internationally acknowledged disputed territory under India’s illegal occupation.

Highlighting New Delhi’s nefa­r­­­ious designs behind the move in a letter addressed to the heads of the governments of Turkiye, Indo­nesia, Saudi Arabia and China, Mr Saghar maintained that Nar­en­dra Modi government’s motive behind arranging the high-profile meeting in Srinagar was to keep the facade of normalcy alive in a move that had triggered genuine concerns among the Kashmiris.

Referring to India’s track record of using guided tours of foreign envoys to occupied Kashmir as a tool to conceal ground realities in the occupied territory, he said the Indian government had a notorious history of using falsehood as a state policy to achieve its strategic goals.

Asks them to realise event’s far-reaching consequences on Kashmiris’ struggle

“Ever since unilaterally and unlawfully changed the special status of occupied Jammu and Kashmir in brazen violation of the UN Security Council resolutions in August 2019, the present Indian government has been remorselessly peddling lies to promote the so-called normalcy narrative on Kashmir,” Mr Saghar said.

Urging Ankara, Riyadh, Jakarta and Beijing to take a holistic review of the prevailing situation in the region, Mr Saghar said it was high time that the member countries of the august forum realised Indian government’s motives and event’s far-reaching consequences on Kashmiris’ ongoing struggle for the right to self-determination.

“Being strong proponents of Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, we hope the member countries will revisit their decision, adopt a unified stand and boycott the upcoming event to reinforce their commitment to a just and peaceful settlement of the longstanding Kashmir dispute”, he said.

Mr Saghar maintained that the people of occupied Kashmir had been demanding implementation of the UNSC resolutions envi­saging their right to determine their political future throu­­gh a free, fair and impartial plebiscite.

“We hope that the nations which have always taken a principled stand vis-à-vis the fundamental rights of oppressed people, including the Kashmiris, will play a result-oriented role to help resolve the deadly Kashmir conflict that has been posing a serious threat to peace and security in South Asia.”

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2023