Srinagar: With just days to go for the G-20 meeting in Kashmir capital, Srinagar; China confirmed that it won’t attend the event and opposed the summit in the “disputed Himalayan” region with four other countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt yet to confirm their attendance.
Moreover, schools at “vulnerable” points have been closed and members of minorities, migrant workers and mainstream politicians are being put on alert in Kashmir, The Hindu reported.
Official sources said several schools in the city, especially those in “vulnerable pockets” in Srinagar, will be closed for the next one week.
Also, Police have been asked to increase vigil in the areas where non-local labourers reside in the city and several road intersections, where labourers would assemble, have been closed for traffic and labourers have been advised against assembling on roadsides, the report said.
Commuters also alleged that the police seized dozens of two-wheelers, which could be used by militants, for “violating traffic rules”.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are all members of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), have been very critical of India’s scrapping of the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 and bifurcating the erstwhile state into two federal territories.
However, other OIC members like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Oman, and UAE have confirmed their participation.
Earlier, India’s mission in Geneva strongly rejected a statement by UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes, who had criticised the event being held in Srinagar as an effort to “normalise” alleged human rights violations and the “denial of democratic and other rights” that he said were “ongoing”.
China later said it won’t participate. “China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G-20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.