KASHMIR: Saudi Arabia has become the latest country to pull out of a G20 meeting held in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in what is likely to be seen as a failed diplomatic attempt to normalise its hold of the disputed territory.
China and Turkey have also boycotted the event, which began on Monday and is expected to end on Wednesday. Several reports indicated that Indonesia and Egypt were expected to also skip the summit.
Indian authorities had billed the summit as a way to showcase the developments that had taken place in the region since Delhi revoked Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status and imposed central rule on the region.
As the current chair of the intergovernmental forum, India will be hosting several events in 2023 and the summit in Kashmir, focusing on tourism, is the first international meeting to take place in the region since 2019.
Since the events of August 2019, the Indian government has embarked on an unprecedented crackdown on the region’s media and civil society, with activists and politicians either being rounded up and arrested or placed on no-fly lists.
