President asks MoFA to expose Indian designs behind planned G-20 Summit

Abida Shaheen

Islamabad: President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to intensify its efforts to expose India’s nefarious designs and ulterior motives behind its planned move to hold the G-20 Summit in the UN-recognized disputed territory of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The president expressed these views while conveying the letter of the Convener of the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference (APHC), Mehmood Ahmed Saghar, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), for appropriate action on the issue raised by him.

Saghar, in his letter to President Alvi had sought the urgent attention of Pakistan towards the Indian government’s highly controversial move to convene a meeting of the members of the G-20 countries in Srinagar and its far-reaching consequences on the Kashmiris’ ongoing struggle for the right to self-determination.

Expressing serious concern over India’s plan to hold the G-20 Summit events in the UN-recognized disputed territory, the Convener termed the move as a part of a “multi-faceted and multi-front campaign” that New Delhi had been waging to create confusion about the Jammu and Kashmir Dispute.

The APHC Convener said India wanted to dilute Kashmir’s international and legal status, strengthen the notion that Kashmir was nothing but its internal matter, deflect the world’s attention away from the real issue, hide ground realities, and promote its so-called normalcy narrative. He highlighted that India was yet again trying to use this crucial meeting to project its baseless normalcy narrative.

Mehmood Ahmed Saghar emphasized the need for a mega diplomatic offensive by Pakistan in the United Nations, and other regional and international fora, to expose India’s nefarious designs and its ulterior motives behind holding such a meeting in IIOJK.

He mentioned that India, in brazen violation of the UNSC resolution, changed the special status of Kashmir unilaterally in 2019, and had been remorselessly peddling lies to create a smoke-screen to hoodwink the world, particularly the G20 nations into believing that all was well in the occupied territory.

He said that the Modi government had organized visits of foreign envoys stationed at New Delhi to the disputed territory. He added that dozens of diplomats, mostly from European and African countries, were invited for a curated visit to help the government to project its “all is well in Kashmir” image and to ward off international pressure. He said that these guided trips were arranged to keep the charade of normalcy alive and convince the world that all was well in Kashmir.

He appreciated the efforts of Pakistan that had expressed strong indignation over India’s decision to hold the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar on 22-24 May 2023.

Saghar said that Pakistan was an important party to the dispute, and expressed the hope that it would continue to play its role and use its political and diplomatic clout effectively to thwart the Indian conspiracies.