UN ‘Expert’ Slammed for Making Baseless Claims on Jammu and Kashmir Ahead of G20 Meet

The UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes faced criticism from the government for politicising and raising false speculations about Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.

Varennes remarks comes a week before the G20 tourism working group meeting in Srinagar. All arrangements are being made so that Srinagar can hold its first ever G20 working group meeting but some nefarious elements are using the event to spread falsehoods and mislead global institutions.

India accused Varennes of “acting irresponsibly” and politicising the Jammu and Kashmir issue. Varennes made false claims like the G20 meeting was being held in the Union Territory to “normalise its suppression of minorities”.

“We (India’s Permanent Mission in Geneva) strongly reject the statement issued by SR Fernand de Varennes on minority issues and the baseless and unwarranted allegations in it. As G20 President, it’s India’s prerogative to host its meetings in any part of the country,” the Indian Permanent Mission in Geneva said.

“We are aghast that Fernand de Varennes has acted irresponsibly to politicise this issue, misused his position as SR to publicise on social media his presumptive and prejudiced conclusions in a gross violation of the Code of Conduct for SRs,” it further added.

Varennes in a tweet said: “Holding a G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir while massive human rights violations are ongoing is lending support to attempts by India to normalise the brutal and repressive denial of democratic and other rights of Kashmiri Muslims and minorities.”

He further added: “G20 should on the contrary uphold “International human rights obligations and the UN Declaration of Human Rights should be upheld and the situation in Jammu and Kashmir should be decried and condemned, not pushed under the rug and ignored with the holding of this meeting”.

Srinagar will be hosting the G20 meeting of the working group on tourism from May 22 to May 24.

Pakistan also tried to create unnecessary noise regarding the G20 working group meeting during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers meeting in Goa earlier this month which was attended by its foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

When Bilawal Bhutto Zardari raised the issue, the external affairs minister S Jaishankar said since Pakistan is not a member of the G20 it has no locus standi to comment on the issue and Kashmir is and will always remain an integral part of India.

(with inputs from Shalinder Wangu)