New Delhi cancels Pakistan, India Foreign Ministers meeting

New Delhi: New Delhi has cancelled meeting of Pakistan and India Foreign Ministers scheduled to be held next week in New York, Indian media reported.

Spokesman for the Indian External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar said, “The recent developments show that any dialogue with Pakistan is meaningless.”

According to media reports, India cancelled the meeting over killing of its three policemen in Indian occupied Kashmir and release of postal stamps glorifying martyred Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani.

However, India did not provide further details about the alleged killings.

On Thursday, following a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan for resumption of dialogues , New Delhi had accepted that Foreign Ministers of two countries will be meeting in New York next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session.

The meeting was scheduled to be held on September 27.

Reacting to Indian decision of cancellation of the meeting, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, “It is regretful India did not respond in positive manner.” He said he was "surprised and disappointed."

“It seems Indian politics is divided and preparing for next elections,” Qureshi added.

"India has once again shown that it cares more about its own politics than regional peace and stability," he added.

"We had given a positive signal and India too had hinted about negotiations," he said, according to AFP.

Asked if Pakistan will approach India again for negotiations, he said: "No, we wanted negotiations in a dignified way."

Opposition leader in the Senate, Sherry Rehman took to  Twitter, saying "running from talks won't change the fact that this time Indian repression in Kashmir has been noticed in a UN report."

United States had welcomed the meeting of Pakistan, India Foreign Ministers in New York, expressing hope that the conditions will be set for a "good" and and "strong" relationship between the two neighbours in the future.