The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Saturday has urged the Kashmiri people for a complete shutdown in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on Monday (May 22), against the hosting of G20 meeting in Srinagar by the Indian government.
According to Kashmir Media service, the call for the strike has also been supported by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir government, political leadership and parties of AJK and Pakistan, while the Kashmiri Diaspora will hold anti-India protest rallies and demonstrations in world capitals, including UK and US, to denounce the Indian move, to what the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Fernand de Varennes, has described as an attempt to normalize a military occupation over Jammu and Kashmir.
Incarcerated Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Masarrat Aalam Butt, has urged the people of IIOJK to observe a complete strike on Monday, to register their protest against the holding of the G20 meeting in Srinagar by Narendra Modi-led Indian government.
Masarrat Aalam Butt in his message from New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail also appealed to the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Kashmiris living across the world to hold protest demonstrations on the day against the illegal move of the Modi regime.
He said by holding the G20 meeting in an internationally recognized disputed territory, the Modi government is attempting to hoodwink the world about the real situation in IIOJK and legitimize its illegal actions of August 05, 2019. He urged the members of this august forum to skip the event to demonstrate their commitment to human rights and values.
APHC leaders and organizations in Srinagar said the Narendra Modi-led Indian government is committing a flagrant violation of international law by holding the G20 meeting in Srinagar. They said Jammu and Kashmir is not India’s part but an internationally-recognized disputed territory whose future is yet to be decided by its people. They said the holding of an international event in a disputed territory is also a violation of the UN Charter.
On the other hand, the APHC through posters, pasted on walls and poles in the streets of Srinagar and adjoining areas, appealed to the people to observe strike to convey a loud and clear message to India and the G20 countries that the holding of the global forum’s meeting in Srinagar will be blatant violation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir.
Pakistan condemned India’s decision to hold a G20 meeting in occupied Kashmir on May 22, calling the move “irresponsible”. Pakistan’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the choice of venues in illegally occupied territory. “India’s irresponsible move is the latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.
Meanwhile, the US-based Sikhs have also come forward to expose Modi-government’s evil design to hoodwink the world about the prevailing situation of IIOJK through the G20 meeting in Srinagar. The Sikhs For Justice, spearheading the movement for a separate homeland for Sikhs in the name of Khalistan, urged the Kashmiris to block Srinagar airport to apprise the delegates about the sensitivity of attending the G20 event in the occupied territory.
Al Jazeera has reported that India is holding the meeting in the disputed territory “to claim that its 2019 scrapping of partial autonomy brought peace and development”. The Al Jazeera report said, “In the years since New Delhi brought Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) under its direct control, the (Modi) government has pushed a series of laws and policies that Kashmiris in the valley say are aimed at undermining their struggle for the right to self-determination of their future.”
The analysts said it is unfortunate that India is going to host the G20 event in IIOJK in an attempt to get legitimacy for its illegal occupation in Kashmir valley. India always kept on misleading the international community and violating international laws and UN resolutions as well on the Kashmir issue whereas Kashmir is an internationally-recognised disputed territory. They said no international conferences can be organized in any disputed territory as per International laws and norms.
Unfortunately, the international community, due to political, economic and diplomatic interests with India, is reluctant to force India to ensure implementation of UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute and to force India to stop its aggression in the disputed territory.