ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office on Tuesday criticized the Indian government’s decision to host an upcoming G-20 meeting in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Srinagar city on Tuesday, accusing New Delhi of attempting to “perpetuate” what it calls an illegal occupation of the territory that remains disputed between both countries. 

 The disputed Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought two out of three wars over the past seven decades on the Kashmir dispute, which they both claim in full but administer only parts of.

Ties between India and Pakistan have remained strained since August 2019 when New Delhi withdrew Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy in August 2019 and split the state into two federally administered territories. Infuriated by the move, Pakistan claims the move was part of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party’s agenda to alter the Muslim-majority region’s demography. 

India holds the presidency for the Group of 20 (G-20), an international economic forum that features 19 countries and the European Union (EU). The G-20 describes itself as “a premier forum for international economic cooperation” that plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global governance on major international economic issues. Earlier this week, India announced it would host the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar from May 22-24. 

“India’s irresponsible move is the latest in a series of self serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in sheer disregard of the UN Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law. Pakistan vehemently condemns these moves,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statement. 

Pakistan said the move could neither hide the fact that Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed area nor could it divert the world’s attention away from India’s “brutal suppression” of the people of Indian-administered Kashmir. 

“With its decision to host G-20 events in IIOJK (Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir), India is again exploiting its membership of an important international grouping for advancing its self-serving agenda,” the foreign office said. 

“For a country that has a grandiose vision about itself and its place in the world, India has once more demonstrated that it is unable to act as a responsible member of the international community.”

China, a close ally of Pakistan who also has border disputes with India, last year spoke out against New Delhi’s decision to hold G-20 meetings in the disputed Kashmir region. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian had said that the Kashmir dispute is a “legacy issue” between India and Pakistan, urging India to avoid complicating the issue with the unilateral move.