Pakistan condemns India’s decision to hold G20 meetings in Kashmir

Pakistan criticized India on Tuesday for choosing to host Group of 20 meetings in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir the next month, calling the decision “irresponsible.”

The two nuclear-armed neighbors who have waged two of their three wars over control of the area have claimed complete control of Kashmir but only rule it in part.

A leaders’ summit will be held in New Delhi in early September. India is now serving as the G20’s rotating year-long presidency.

The G20 and Youth 20 meetings will take place in Leh, in the neighboring province of Ladakh, and Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, in April and May, according to a complete calendar of activities issued by India on Friday.

In a statement, Pakistan’s foreign ministry decried the selection of locations in disputed territory.

According to the statement, “India’s reckless action is the latest in a series of self-serving tactics to sustain its illegitimate occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.”

India was charged with acting “in contempt of the UN Security Council resolutions and in contravention of the principles of the UN Charter and international law,” the document continued.

Pakistan deeply condemns these actions, the statement read.

An inquiry from Reuters seeking response on the Pakistani statement was not immediately answered by the foreign ministry of India.

Jammu and Kashmir is the only region in India with a majority of Muslims, and New Delhi has long accused Pakistan of fomenting a decades-old separatist insurgency there.

Islamabad disputes that claim, claiming that all it does is help Kashmiris who are attempting to achieve self-determination on a diplomatic and moral level.

Additionally, Pakistan accuses India of violating human rights in the portions of Kashmir that are under its control, a claim that New Delhi refutes.