Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), headed by incarcerated senior APHC leader, Shabbir Ahmed Shah has expressed its profound gratitude to the G-20 countries that skipped the meeting of the working group on tourism hosted by India. While terming it as a great diplomatic setback to India that a number of important countries including China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, and Indonesia have refused to be a part of the event held in the disputed territory. 

It said that on the one hand, key stakeholders’ refusal to attend the meeting has vindicated the Kashmiris’ stand and their claim, while on the other, the protests held by the Kashmiris on the day have highlighted the Kashmir dispute at the global level. The DFP said, “The people of Kashmir owe a debt of gratitude to all those countries who realized the sensitivities involved in the meeting, took a pragmatic and principled stance by staying away from the meeting,” adding that the decision to skip the meeting has boosted the morale of the Kashmiris who have been reeling under India’s relentless and brutal suppression for the past several decades. The statement said, normalcy and peace in IIOJK are directly linked to granting the Kashmiris their right to self-determination and the Modi government can’t change the reality of the Kashmir dispute by conducting international events in IIOJK. G-720-like events in IIOJK have no meaning for the Kashmiris as they continue to suffer under brutal Indian occupation.

It added India will never succeed in fulfilling its nefarious agenda of normalizing its occupation through staging G20-like events in Kashmir. The statement maintained that some local and international media outlets have busted India’s so-called normalcy narrative in occupied Jammu and Kashmir by releasing pictures of Indian armed forces hiding behind the promotional banners erected on the roads leading to the venue of the meeting. The DFP also appreciated the Kashmiri social and political activists, particularly the diaspora community, for staging protests in influential world capitals including Washington, London, and other cities of the world, and expressing their resentment over India’s controversial move to organize the G20 event in the disputed territory. It urged India to realize the fact that it cannot hoodwink the world by promoting fake normalcy in IIOJK and peddling lies about Kashmir.

It is high time for G20 and other world powers to fulfill their commitment made to the Kashmiris about the right to self-determination and the UN must redouble its efforts to urgently resolve the Kashmir dispute to ensure permanent peace in South Asia, it added.