China, Saudi Arabia boycott G20 meeting held by India in Kashmir

China, Turkey, and Egypt have "decided" to boycott the G20 summit in picturesque Srinagar of Occupied Valley, the first such gathering since India unilaterally brought Kashmir under direct control in August 2019.

The meeting, which will take place from Monday to Wednesday, is expected to be attended by 60 delegates from most G20 countries under tight security in Kashmir, reports The Guardian.

According to reports, Indian officials had aimed to show that the controversial changes have brought "peace and prosperity" to the region and that it is a safe place for tourists.

In 2019, the Indian government stripped the disputed Muslim-majority region of semi-autonomy and split it into two federal territories in an attempt to integrate it fully into India.

Pakistan, which also lays claim to Kashmir but is not a G20 member, described the meeting as irresponsible.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Indonesia were also expected to skip the meeting. China, in a statement, announced that it will not attend citing its firm opposition "to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory".

Last week Fernand de Varennes, the UN's special rapporteur on minority issues, issued a statement saying the G20 was "unwittingly providing a veneer of support to a facade of normalcy" when human rights violations, political persecution and illegal arrests were escalating in Kashmir. Varennes also said the meeting risked normalising what some have described as a military occupation.

India's permanent mission at the UN in Geneva criticised the statement saying that it was India's prerogative to hold G20 meetings in any part of the country.

India divided the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 to create two federally administered territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Ladakh is a disputed frontier region along the line of actual control between India and China, and both countries claim parts of it, says The Guardian.

The chief coordinator for India's G20 presidency, Harsh Vardhan Shringla said, "We have the highest representation from foreign delegations for the tourism working group meeting in Srinagar, than we have had in the previous working group meetings. Our experience is that in any working group meeting, to get such a large turnout of delegates not only from G20 countries but also from international organisations that are part of the G20 is an incredible process.

"If you have to do a working group on tourism in India, we have to do it in Srinagar. There is no option."

The presidency of the G20 is rotated between members each year and the Indian presidency was always likely to prove controversial as India has close trading links with Russia and the Modi administration is keen to protect Russia from criticism by western members of the G20 over Ukraine.