India calls off talks with Pakistan

India on Friday cancelled the proposed meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), saying recent developments had exposed Islamabad's intentions.

The decision came just a day after India had agreed to the meeting following a request from Pakistan. The proposed interaction was expected to be the first high-level meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in three years.

In a strongly worded statement, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the recent killing of Indian security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan's alleged glorification of terrorism had changed the situation.

He said these developments demonstrated that Pakistan was not prepared to change its approach towards India.

“Now, it is 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 the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has been revealed to the world,” Kumar said.

The government said that under the circumstances, holding talks with Pakistan would serve no meaningful purpose.

“Any conversation with Pakistan in such an environment would be meaningless,” the statement said.

The proposed meeting in New York had initially been seen as a possible opening for renewed engagement between the two neighbours. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the resumption of dialogue and had proposed a meeting between the two foreign ministers during the UNGA session.

India had subsequently agreed to the meeting but had stressed that it should not automatically be interpreted as the revival of the formal bilateral dialogue process.

The latest decision marks another setback to efforts to ease tensions between India and Pakistan, which have remained strained over cross-border terrorism, violence in Jammu and Kashmir and other security-related issues.

India's announcement came amid heightened tensions following the reported killing of security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir and controversy over Pakistan's handling of individuals and groups accused by India of involvement in terrorism.

With the meeting now cancelled, prospects for an immediate restart of structured India-Pakistan talks appear to have weakened further.

The External Affairs Ministry said that, given the changed circumstances, Sushma Swaraj and Qureshi would not meet in New York as originally planned.