T HE Group of Seven (G7) wealthy nations assembled for a meeting recently hosted by Britain in London. Three other countries, Australia, South Korea and India, were invited as `guests`. The first session, as was expected, was devoted to China. What has unnerved G7 nations is mainly China`s growing economic and military clout.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked about the `lofty`international rules-based order that would cater to their ambitions. Blinken pledged robust cooperation with Britain in putting pressure on China over the Xinjiang region, and over a clampdown against civil rights in Hong Kong.

Isn`t it a cruel joke on the people of India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir that the whole region has been totally ignored by the `strongest democracy and the mother of all democracies` at such an `august gathering of wealthy nations`? The occupied valley has been like an open jail since the Aug 5, 2019, clampdown. While Blinken sought Britain`s cooperation in pressuring China, he simply `forgot` to seek G7`s cooperation, if not `robust` cooperation, in putting pressure on India to restore the occupiedJammu and Kashmir`s status and to repeal the draconian Public Safety Act, implemented since 1989, which allows Indian occupation forces to imprison anyone for up to two years without a trial.

All claims of human rights are reduced to nothing more than gimmickry guided by economic and political expediency.

Abid Mahmud Ansari Islamabad