Wani Writes To G20 Countries About India's Malafide Intentions Behind G20 Summit

MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2022 ) : Jun 30 (APP):Chairman Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) Altaf Hussain Wani has urged G20 countries not to allow the Indian government to use them as its 'brand ambassadors' to project its normalcy narrative without giving considering the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

In a joint communique addressed on Thursday to heads of G20 countries, the KIIR chairman while highlighting the real motives behind India's plan, said that the Indian government's controversial decision to hold the high-profile summit in the region was based on malafide intentions aimed at deflecting the world attention away from the Kashmir issue and minimize the legitimacy of Kashmiris' demands for holding plebiscite in the region in line with the UNSC resolutions.

"India's present-day government, which in brazen violation of the UNSC resolutions had unilaterally and unlawfully changed the special status of Kashmir in 2019, has since then been remorselessly peddling lies to promote so-called normalcy narrative on Kashmir", the communique said.

Referring to the individual trips of the Members of the European Parliament to Kashmir last year, the letter said, "EU parliamentarians' individual visits were presented by the Indian government as official EU delegations".

"Similarly, a trip of foreign envoys stationed at New Delhi to the disputed territory was arranged to keep the charade of normalcy alive", he said adding that nearly two-dozen diplomats, mostly from European and African countries, were invited for a curated visit to the region to ward off the growing calls for an independent probe into human rights violations in the region.

"The guided trip has been more or less a replica of the past visit wherein the delegates were taken on a brief tour of "Naya (new) Kashmir", which was skillfully carved out from the war-torn city overnight and decorated as per the visitors' contentment by removing temporarily the barricades, barbed-wires, and bunkers that one can normally see dotted all around the city", the letter said.

Underlining the Indian government's long history of using falsehood as a state policy, the KIIR chief in his letter mentioned that the Modi government's decision to hold the G20 Summit in Kashmir had triggered genuine concerns that the government would yet again use the high-profile meeting as a tool to achieve its strategic objectives.

Urging the heads of G20 countries to take a holistic review of the situation, Wani expressed the optimism that the member states of the group would influence the Indian government to change the venue of the Summit given the territory's disputed nature.

Highlighting the terrible situation in the region, Wani said, "Rather than getting swayed by India's propaganda what the world, in particular, the heads of G20 countries need to know about Kashmir is that it has been classified as the world's most militarized zone as well as the largest region occupied by Indian forces illegally".

"Kashmir is the largest open-air jail on the surface of the earth, where Kashmiris feel literally caged in their own houses; where they live without human rights", he added.

He said that the world needs to know that India has turned Kashmir into a living hell for its people where they feel exiled in their own homeland, they feel robbed of their rights and identity. Kashmiris, he said, couldn't even mourn the death of their loved ones killed in fake encounters, they couldn't even eat the food of their choice, couldn't complain or support the victims of oppression, and couldn't raise their voice against the reckless state violence.

Citing the UN Security Council Resolution � dated March 30, 1951, he said, "The final disposition of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations".

"We sincerely hope that the G20 countries that have an enviable track record of upholding the people's fundamental rights would take a clear-cut stance on the issue and play their much-needed role to help resolve this deadly conflict that poses a serious threat to peace and security in South Asia", the letter further said.