India calls off NY meet with Pak over J&K cops' killing

India on Friday called off a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, citing the brutal killing of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir.

The announcement by the external affairs ministry came within 24 hours of the confirmation of the meeting between the two foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York next week.

“The latest brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and the recent release of a series of 20 postage stamps by Pakistan glorifying a terrorist and terrorism confirm that Pakistan will not mend its ways,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters here.

He said the “evil agenda” of Pakistan stood exposed and the “true face of the new Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been revealed to the world in the first few months in office".

“Any conversation with Pakistan in such an environment would be meaningless. In view of the changed situation, there will be no meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New York,” Kumar said.

India had agreed to Pakistan’s proposal for a meeting in response to “the spirit reflected in the letters from the new prime minister and foreign minister of Pakistan”, Kumar said.

The meeting proposed by Imran Khan had kicked off a political storm with the Opposition Congress questioning its purpose when Pakistani Rangers had mutilated the body of a BSF jawan.