Pakistan and its agencies, fueled by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), have spent a massive fortune over the years spreading false propaganda and misinformation about Jammu & Kashmir worldwide.
The ISI has established a number of lobbying groups with ties to international terrorist organisations, including Lashkar-E-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, in countries throughout the world, like the US, UK, and Turkey. These organisations are known to be notorious for vehemently campaigning against India to further a Kashmir-related pro-Pakistani and anti-India agenda.
Since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, a slew of ISI-linked organisations have stepped up and intensified their anti-India lobbying efforts to sway world politicians on the Jammu & Kashmir issue. These groups have been peddling false claims about human rights, democratic representation, and the genocide of Kashmiris at the hands of Indian forces, among other things. Such claims are nothing but fabrications by the ISI and their cronies to further their agendas.
If we look back at the past, Pakistan has a long history of lobbying against India on the international stage, with the infamous 1980s launch of Operation Tupac. However, their efforts to malign India are all set to come to naught with the impending G20 Tourism Working Committee meeting in Srinagar from May 22 to 24, which will be hosted by the BJP-led Indian Government. This will be a severe blow to their malicious intentions.
Despite Pakistan’s desperate bid to dissuade advanced nations from holding the G20 summit in Jammu & Kashmir, it has fallen flat, and the 20 most powerful economies in the world will personally witness the remarkable progress made in the region since the abrogation of Article 370. The hosting of this event in Jammu & Kashmir is a resounding testament to the Indian Government’s goodwill and influence, which cuts across geopolitical fault lines on the issue of Jammu & Kashmir and highlights the growing irrelevance of Pakistan in the global arena.
The event unequivocally signals that Jammu & Kashmir is no longer a thorny issue for the world as it once was, as the region forges ahead on a path of progress, free from Pakistan’s sponsored terrorism, human rights violations, and paid secessionism.
Previously, countries like the US, UK, Germany, and France, as well as all G20 members, issued travel warnings and deemed Kashmir a no-go area. However, in just a few days, Jammu & Kashmir is poised to throw open its doors to the rest of the world, demonstrating the turnaround. Moreover, the region saw a record-breaking influx of 1.88 crore tourists last year, which underscores the region’s growing appeal, which has been the highest since Independence.
Over the past 70 years, Jammu & Kashmir have been starved of investments, with a paltry Rs. 14000–15000 crores trickling in for the past seven decades. However, in the last three years alone, the region has seen a dramatic shift and has received investment offers worth a whopping Rs 56000 crores. We see that the on-the-ground results of MOUs with international investors like Emaar, Lulu, and DP World are already apparent. The upcoming G20 summit in Jammu & Kashmir is noteworthy as it is anticipated to draw even more investment and provide more opportunities for the local population.
With India’s G20 presidency gaining traction, the upcoming G20 summit in Jammu & Kashmir is set to contribute to fostering support for the region on a global scale. It’s safe to say that the summit will firmly place Jammu & Kashmir on the world map with a stronger global footprint, enabling it to shape critical global economic and commercial decisions. This historic event will pave the way for a brighter future for Jammu & Kashmir, signalling its emergence as a force to be reckoned with on the global stage.
(The writer is a Srinagar-based journalist and columnist. He is the former Consulting Editor of Jammu & Kashmir’s first and the largest English daily Greater Kashmir. He has also been awarded with the “Outstanding Media Person Award” by the Jammu & Kashmir Government on Republic Day-2023)
