Srinagar
India on Friday called off the meeting between external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York, citing the killing of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the release of postal stamps glorifying militant Burhan Wani, Times of India reported.
The Times of India quoted MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: “the recent developments show that any dialogue with Pakistan is meaningless.”
“Since yesterday’s announcement of a meeting of foreign ministers of India and Pakistan, two deeply disturbing developments have taken place. The latest killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and the recent release of a series of 20 postal stamps by Pakistan glorifying militants,” Times of India quoted MEA spokesperson as saying.
According to report the spokesperson further said: “It’s obvious that behind Pakistan’s proposal for talks to make a fresh beginning, the evil agenda of Pakistan stands exposed and the true face of new Prime Minister of Pakistan has been revealed to the world and that too in the first few months itself.”
India had on Thursday agreed to a meeting between external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart after Pakistan’s request.
Earlier today, three policemen were abducted from their homes in south Kashmir’s Shopian district and killed by suspected militants, police said.
India had agreed to talks after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to re-start the bilateral talks on key issues “challenging the relationship.”
The meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries would have been the first such high-level engagement since the suspension of dialogue between the two nations after the Pathankot air base attack in 2016.
