The G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting begins Monday in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir. India is chairing the G-20 this year and dozens of meetings have been held so far.

But there is a special discussion about the meeting to be held in Srinagar. For the first time after August 2019, a big international event is organized in Kashmir.

The central government of Narendra Modi had abolished Article 370 in August 2019. Kashmir had special status under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

Apart from this, the central government also took away the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two union territories. India probably wants to send a message to the world through the G-20 meeting in Srinagar that all is normal there.

Pakistan had opposed the meeting in Srinagar but now China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have refused to attend the conference. Egypt was invited as a special guest, but Egypt has not come to attend the meeting either.

While Indonesia sent an official from its embassy in Delhi to attend the meeting.

In such a situation, the question arises as to what India wants to achieve by hosting the meeting in Srinagar and how to view the countries that have refused to attend this meeting.

Amitabh Mattoo, a professor expert on Kashmiri affairs who has taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University, says that by meeting the Tourism Task Force in Srinagar, India wants to show the world that since 2019 there has been a lot of development in Kashmir and there has been a peaceful environment.

According to Professor Mattu, such tactics are adopted in international diplomacy and there is nothing wrong with them.

Referring to an example related to Srinagar itself, Professor Matto says: “In 1955, the issue of Kashmir was in the international spotlight. India invited Nikolai Bulganin, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, and Nikita Khrushchev, the then General Secretary of the Communist Party, to Srinagar and gave them a meeting. Oprah was shown. Both leaders of the Soviet Union made a statement there that Kashmir is an inalienable part of India.”

China has refused to attend the meeting in Srinagar, calling Kashmir “disputed territory”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin issued a statement on Friday saying: “China strongly opposes holding G20 meetings in any form in disputed areas and will not attend such meetings.”

No official statement has come from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but both have refused to attend the meeting.

According to Professor Amitabh Matto, each country must be looked at from a different perspective.

In a conversation with the BBC, he says: “China is really an enemy country. The way China supports Pakistan, it obviously won’t attend any meetings in Kashmir.”

China had previously refused to attend meetings to be held in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh.

Dr. Fazzur Rahman, Senior Associate Member with ICWA, says that China has given two messages with this decision, one is that it is against India and the other is that it supports Pakistan.

Regarding Turkey, Professor Mattu says that President Recep Tayyip Ardoan has a very long and deep relationship with Pakistan.

According to him, Turkey supports Pakistan’s policies on the Kashmir issue even in the OIC, an organization of Islamic countries, so there are no surprises in this either.

According to Dr. Fazzur Rahman, in the last seven or eight years, in the Ardoan era, there has been a special ideological aspect in Turkey’s foreign policy, the center of which is Islam.

According to Dr. Fazzur Rahman, in the past four to five years, Turkey has made the Kashmir issue an important part of its foreign policy.

Whenever Ardoan addresses the Islamic world, he compares Kashmir to Palestine.

Ardoan also formed a parliamentary committee on the Kashmir issue, which India has strongly opposed.

In August 2019, Turkey opposed India’s decision. He has also openly supported Pakistan on the Kashmir issue at the OIC and in February 2020 he addressed the Parliament of Pakistan. In that speech she had also mentioned Kashmir.

According to Dr. Rehman, apart from foreign policy, Ardoan has also tried to appeal to his supporters and voters on the Kashmir issue. Elections are taking place in Turkey, in which the first round has been held and the second round is on May 28.

Dr. Rahman says: “Ardoan is presenting the toughest election of his political career. Right now, Ardoan is doing his best to use all those issues to his electoral advantage, either in opposition to Europe and the West, or in favor of of Islam or Pakistan. can be used for”.

According to Dr. Rehman, in this situation there is no doubt that Turkey will show leniency on the Kashmir issue.

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Regarding Saudi Arabia, Professor Mattoo says that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sultan has adopted a reformist policy in Saudi Arabia, but now it remains to be seen how he balances the conservative forces and the reformist forces in Saudi Arabia.

But Dr. Fazzur Rahman sees the case of Saudi Arabia differently.

He says India-Saudi Arabia relations have improved a lot in recent years, especially after Narendra Modi became prime minister. According to him, there has been a change in Saudi Arabia’s thinking after the Ukrainian war.

He says: “A new multipolar world came after the Ukraine war. During this, Saudi Arabia has tried to say that we are not in any faction.”

Giving an example of this, Dr. Rahman says that he invited Ukraine’s President Zelensky to the recent Arab League meeting. Zelensky is the first non-Arab League leader to address an Arab League meeting.

He says that Saudi Arabia wants to convey that it is moving towards strategic autonomy and political pragmatism and that its own national interest is paramount.

According to Dr. Rehman, instead of linking Saudi Arabia’s non-participation in the Srinagar meeting with Pakistan and China, it should be seen in this context.

Most surprising is the decision not to participate in Egypt. Just four months ago, Egyptian President Abdul Fattal al-Sisi was the main guest on the occasion of Republic Day on January 26.

India invited Egypt as a special guest at the G20 meeting. Egypt also accepted it but refused to attend the meeting at the last moment.

In addition to Egypt, a total of nine countries have been invited as guests, including Bangladesh, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates.

In the case of Egypt, Professor Amitabh Mattoo also wonders why the Indian Ministry of External Affairs made such a decision.

Trying to explain the reason for this, Professor Mattoo says: “There is also a balance of power in Egypt. There is a Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jamal Nasser and Anwar Sadat have also lived in Egypt, the Arab Spring has also happened there.”

But despite all this, he says it is necessary to consider why Egypt did this.

Dr. Fazzur Rahman sees it in a completely different way.

He says: “A new kind of unity in the Arab world has been seen after an era at the Arab League meeting held on Friday. Syria has returned to the Arab League. All members on the issue of Palestine, Libya, Yemen and Sudan are unanimous.”

According to Dr. Rahman, Egypt has been a founding member of the Arab League, so at a time when unity is visible in the Arab League, it does not want to go any way apart from the League.

Giving another reason, Dr. Rahman says, “Egypt’s economy has completely deteriorated in recent years and Saudi Arabia has helped Egypt a lot. In such a situation, it is not easy for Egypt to take any decision apart from Saudi Arabia.” .

India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, USA, European Union are the countries G20 members

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