India has hosted 59 countries in the G20 Meet in Srinagar from May 22-24 for the Tourism Working Group meeting. The Pakistan Charge de Affairs has lodged a protest with other participants on the account of the land of Jammu and Kashmir being disputed.
According to reports, Pakistan has lobbied with the countries that are part of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation who were invited to Srinagar for the meet. Pakistan reportedly urged them to boycott the event but only Islamabad’s top strategic partners China, Egypt, and Oman did not attend the G20 meeting.
Egypt and Oman have been invited by India to the G20 summit in September.
The report also says that three travel industry representatives from Turkey and two travel industry representatives from Saudi Arabia attended the event despite any official participation.
Reportedly it was only China that officially boycotted the G20 meet in Srinagar, it is said that the Beijing spokesperson termed it as 'disputed territory'.
According to reports, Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ summit in Goa earlier this month had gone to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) on May 23 to hold a meeting where he reportedly criticised the Narendra Modi-led government especially for holding this Srinagar G20 meet. He also reportedly slammed the Indian government for maligning the relationship between Pakistan and the Kashmiri people.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration along with the G20 secretariat, the tourism ministry and the national security forces had ensured that the G20 meeting in Srinagar was peaceful.
