Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt also not confirmed participation in G20 meet, admits India

 As China has already opposed the G20 Working Group meet on Tourism in the internationally recognized disputed territory of occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), other key members including Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have also not confirmed their participation in the event, Indian government has acknowledged on Sunday.

The Modi government has announced that Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have not confirmed their attendance, indicating they too will skip the meeting, writes the Hindu, an Indian daily on Sunday.

Indian Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh briefed the media in Delhi and said that out of G20 member countries, China, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia had not confirmed their participation.

Among other invited countries, Egypt had not registered so far, Singh added.

China later said it won’t participate. “China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings,” the daily quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

While China,Turkiye and Saudi Arabia are G20 members, Egypt is a special invitee this year.

Several prominent Indian journalists including Rana Ayyub had raised questions over Modi’s government ploy.

The Modi’s government is trying to hoodwink the world by hosting an international event in IIOJK since the abolition of the special status of the former disputed area and amendment to Article 370 in August 2019, which drew international condemnation.

The Hindu further says that Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are all members of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), that had been very critical of India’s changes in IIOJK.

UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes, few days back, had also criticised the event being held in Srinagar as an effort to “normalise” human rights violations. KMS-13K