G20 meeting in Kashmir: Pakistan’s hue and cry against India increasing

INTERNATIONAL DESK: As the G20 meeting in Kashmir approaches this month, increased hue and cry against India from neighbouring Pakistan has plunged to new levels. This is backed by several terror attacks in Poonch, Rajouri.

“We, the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have certain things we must be aware of and therefore accept some responsibilities,” said Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza, a human rights activist from Mirpur in PoK.

Currently, India holds the presidency of the G20. The decision to hold several sessions of the G20 in Kashmir Valley, a Muslim-majority union territory, is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s ultimate demonstration of the conventions of equality, so dear to Sanatan dharma, and the cultural traditions of inclusivity, which Bharat has been demonstrating unceasingly from the time when Arab Muslims, who were direct decedents of Prophet Muhammed, escaped persecution of the Umayyad Caliphate and took refuge in Sindh where Dahir, a Hindu raja, gave them sanctuary, Mirza said.

The decision of the BJP government to host G20 meeting in Kashmir has laid to rest the vile propaganda disseminated by Pakistan through its ISPR-controlled media and ISI-approved diplomats that the current Indian government is maligning Muslims and other minorities and enforcing a Hindutva agenda upon them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team have decisively placed Jammu and Kashmir on the business map of the world. This is good news for all those who belong to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir including PoK.

Any act that promotes a positive image of Jammu and Kashmir, in the final analysis, will benefit the people of the union territory and that includes those who are living under the occupation of Pakistan in PoK since October 22, 1947.

Any trade policies that are decided during the G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir will have an effect on the union territory. Financial regulation will be revised and that will help to get rid of unnecessary red tape and obsolete business regulations that have hampered the development of Jammu and Kashmir in particular, and India in general, before the abrogation of articles 370 and 35-A, he said.

The G20 meeting will bring an opportunity for Jammu and Kashmir to expand its trade and investment on a global scale. Tourism and handicraft industry will flourish even more due to G20 meeting to be held in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir will become a global flash point and for the first time for the right reasons. Trade, sustainable development, energy, environment, agriculture and health sectors, only few to mention, will benefit hugely from the G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir.

One might argue that it is a very ambitious step taken by the BJP government, but then folks, what else, if not for taking bold initiatives and ambitious strides is Prime Minister Modi acknowledged for?

The G20 meeting in Kashmir is a great opportunity for us who are living under the illegal occupation of Pakistan to become part of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

As citizens of PoK, we must share some responsibilities to help the G20 meeting run its course smoothly from May 22 to 24.

One responsibility we must embrace boldly is to defeat the anti-G20 propaganda Pakistani and their facilitators propagate in PoK, which they have unleashed through local and national media.

The way to do that is to hold public meetings in neighbourhoods of PoK, convene meetings in colleges and universities, encourage discussions among the government employees and every section of PoK society and explain the difference between the oppression we face and the development and prosperity Kashmir endures as part of the Union of the Republic of India.

Another responsibility we must shoulder is that of identifying terrorist launch pads and be vigilant regarding their movement and report it on social media outlets or send information to me, and I will make sure that they are broadcasted on our erstwhile Radio Himalaya.

We must use the opportunity of the G20 meeting to show the people of Jammu and Kashmir living on the other side of the Line of Control that we as a people are one people and that no matter how many dirty games or conspiracies Pakistan and its military try to hatch against us, we will not be divided.

Let us not forget that the twenty member countries of G20 and scores of delegates from observer countries will not be able to ignore our strife and this time around the issue of PoK occupation and liberation will definitely come up in private conversations during the session of G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir.

By holding the G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir, Narendra Modi has finally transformed PoK occupation into a global issue that the world community will not be able to ignore for much longer.

Let us grab this opportunity and set the scene for our liberation from Pakistan and reunion with Mother India.
Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza is an author and a human rights activist from Mirpur in PoK. He currently lives in the UK in exile. (ANI)