New Delhi/IBNS: India Thursday rebuffed Pakistan’s objections to New Delhi hosting G20 events in Srinagar and Leh, stating that holding G20 events in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is very natural as they are an integral and inalienable part of India.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, answering a query at a briefing today, said: “G20 events are taking place across India; they are being organised in every region of the country.

"The holding of G20 events in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is very natural as they are an integral and inalienable part of India.”

India’s response came as Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday expressed “strong indignation” after India updated its G20 calendar to include meetings in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and Leh in Ladakh.

India will be hosting a G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar on May 22-24, while two other meetings of a consultative forum on youth affairs (Y-20) will be held in Leh and Srinagar.

Pakistan’s MFA said that the “irresponsible move” by India is the “latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in sheer disregard of the UN Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law”.

[With UNI inputs]