On Sunday, former Vice President of FPCCI Atif Ikram Sheikh lauded the Chinese leadership for declining to participate in the G20 summit to be held next week in India. Chinese Foreign Ministry has said that “China firmly opposes holding meetings in any disputed areas and will not attend such meetings,” which is a big blow to New Delhi, he said.

Atif Ikram Sheikh, who has also served as President of ICCI and Chairman of PVMA, said today that apart from other plans, India would like to showcase its potential as a tourist destination to the delegates to improve its tourism industry.

India also planned to take G20 leaders to Indian Held Kashmir as their endorsement of its act to deprive the Kashmiris of their autonomous status by abrogation of Article 370 of India’s constitution.

The Indian government is seeking to normalise its illegal occupation by instrumentalising a G20 group meeting in Srinagar and portraying it as an international ”seal of approval,” he added.

The business leader said that we should highlight massive human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir, including torture, extrajudicial killings, political persecution and suppression of free media.

He has pointed out that the G20 is unwillingly providing support to India at a time when massive human rights violations, illegal and arbitrary arrests, political persecutions, restrictions and even suppression of free media and human rights defenders continue to escalate.

The situation in occupied Kashmir should be decried and condemned, not pushed under the rug with the holding of this meeting.

He noted that it is quite clear that the governments of G20 countries are fully aware of what India is up to in occupied Kashmir, but their behaviour in this whole affair is not praiseworthy.