After India efficiently hosted 59 worldwide delegates on the G20 Tourism Working Group assembly in Srinagar from Could 22 to 24, Pakistan’s Cost de Affairs (CDA) to India lodged a protest with all these international locations who attended the occasion within the Valley, HT has learnt.
Pakistan had lobbied with Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) international locations invited to Srinagar to boycott the occasion on grounds that Jammu & Kashmir was disputed territory, however solely Islamabad’s high strategic associate China, Egypt, and Oman didn’t attend the G20 assembly. Egypt and Oman are among the many 9 international locations invited as friends by India for the September G20 Summit. Three journey trade representatives from Turkey and two journey trade representatives from Saudi Arabia attended the occasion although there was no official participation.
Amongst OIC international locations, Nigeria was represented by its deputy excessive commissioner and three delegates from the excessive fee, Bangladesh was represented by its excessive commissioner, UAE by one official and two journey trade representatives, and Indonesia by one embassy consultant. A lot to the chagrin of China and Pakistan, the United Nations was represented by its Headquarters, the World Tourism Group (UNWTO), the UN Surroundings Programme (UNEP), the World Journey and Tourism Council (WTTC), and the Worldwide Labour Group (ILO).
Regardless of Islamabad having no locus standi both in G20 or Srinagar, as exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar stated on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) overseas ministers’ summit in Goa earlier this month, Pakistan overseas minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari went to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) on Could 23 and addressed a gathering in Bagh to criticise the Narendra Modi authorities for internet hosting the Srinagar occasion. Whereas thanking “all-weather good friend” China, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey for ostensibly shunning the G20 Srinagar assembly, he slammed the Modi authorities for allegedly maligning Pakistan and the Kashmiri individuals. To make certain, China was the one nation that publicly introduced the boycott of the Srinagar assembly saying it was against holding the assembly in what a Beijing spokesman termed as “disputed territory”.
Aside from the J&Okay administration, together with lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, enjoying a significant function within the success of the G20 occasion in Srinagar, the G20 secretariat, the tourism ministry, and the nationwide safety businesses performed their half in making certain that the occasion was freed from incident.
HT has learnt that India had given a agency message to Pakistan that there could be a retaliation if any incident involving Pak-sponsored terrorists came about in the course of the Srinagar occasion.