India calls off New York meeting with Pakistan

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

India on Friday called off the meeting of their foreign minister with her Pakistani counterpart, which was scheduled in New York later this month, Indian media reported.

Speaking to reporters the Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar confirmed the cancellation of meeting between both foreign ministers citing the alleged killing of three policeman and a personnel of Border Security Force (BSF) in Jammu and Kashmir, Times of India said in a report.

On Thursday, India had announced that Sushma Swaraj, the Indian external affairs minister, will meet Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sideline of the United Nation General Assembly in New York later this month.

The meeting was proposed by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in a letter to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

Talking to Geo News, a local broadcaster, Qureshi said there was an opportunity to go forward but it was missed.

"If the meeting is not to be considered as part of talks between Islamabad and New Delhi then what is the purpose of it," Qureshi questioned.

He said it appears that New Delhi is facing an “internal pressure” ahead of the elections in the country.

Relations between the two arch-rivals nosedived after India accused Pakistan of having links to gunmen who killed 19 soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir in September 2016.

Islamabad has denied the charge and is currently fighting a case in the International Court of Justice against an alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav who has been sentenced to death in Pakistan.

Since their partition in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two over Kashmir.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.