May 27, 2023

India's G20 meeting in Kashmir covers up human rights abuses

topic:	Human Rights
located:	India
editor:	Hanan Zaffar

In the first major international event in recent times held in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir, India organised a tourism meet as a part of its G20 presidency. However, countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt abstained from attending the event, further highlighting the disputed nature of the venue. Critics of the government termed the event as India’s attempt to project normalcy in the region while nevertheless oppressing the residents of Kashmir. 

Considered the world’s largest militarised zone, Kashmir is a disputed territory contested by India and neighbouring Pakistan ever since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. The region has been in turmoil for decades but has seen widespread military crackdown by India in recent years.

Estimates suggest that more than 100,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict since 1990, with human rights organisations accusing India of gross human rights violations and holding the region by its military might. 

Mehbooba Mufti, the former head of Jammu and Kashmir, said that India had turned the area into "the equivalent of the Guantánamo Bay prison" so that it could host a meeting on tourism. She further asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was using the G20 summit for publicity. 

Furthermore, natives of the region and government critics say the administration was desperately trying to falsify the actual picture of Kashmir in order to show off their apparent accomplishment in the aftermath of the abrogation of the region’s autonomy. To dispel the impression that the region is under military rule, military bunkers in the city were camouflaged, and paramilitary soldiers and police were observed lurking behind event advertising. 

In addition to the measures described above, the agencies have stationed units of the Rashtriya Rifles and the Para Special Forces of the Indian Army on the ridges that surround the location of the event and the accommodations for the delegates. 

The officials also closed many roads and other alleyways in the region for the general populace. In addition, schools were closed for a full week and several exams were postponed to avoid regular transport.  

The event has been held in the backdrop of the abrogation of the region’s autonomy in 2019. Following the abrogation, the region has seen the direct rule of the Indian government devoid of any democratic representation. The Indian state is presenting the event as the success of the abrogation as well as what it calls the revival of tourism in the state, as it claims a rise in tourists. 

According to a statement released last week by UN special rapporteur on minority problems, Fernand de Varennes, the G20 is "unwittingly providing a veneer of support to a facade of normalcy" in Kashmir, where human rights violations, political persecution, and illegal arrests are on the rise. He warned that the conference could help normalise what is being called an occupation by military forces. 

While the government claims the region has seen a new dawn, with tourism and a decrease in violence, others claim that the purpose of this display of harmony and prosperity is to discourage citizens from complaining about the state of affairs. The conference, in the opinion of many experts, was aimed at diverting attention away from the real political issue.

Image by Mitul Gajera

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