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India, Pakistan foreign ministers to hold rare meeting
NEW DELHI, Sept 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The foreign ministers of arch-rivals
India and Pakistan will hold a rare meeting on the sidelines of the UN
General Assembly underway in New York, officials in New Delhi said Thursday.
The announcement comes after Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote to
his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi calling for a resumption of talks
between the nuclear-armed foes.
High-level talks between India and Pakistan are rare. Indian media
described the slated meeting as the first in nearly three years.
India has long accused Pakistan of arming rebel groups in Kashmir, a
Himalayan territory divided between the two countries but claimed in full by
both.
India also blames Pakistan for financing the deadly 2008 militant attacks
in Mumbai.
A spokesman for India’s external affairs ministry said the New York tete-a-
tete between Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi did not
represent a shift in New Delhi’s relations with Islamabad.
“This does not indicate any change in our policy on cross-border
terrorism,” spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters in the Indian capital.
The announcement comes as the already-fraught relationship between the
rivals hit fresh roadblocks this week.
The death of an Indian border guard Wednesday in Kashmir provoked outrage,
with New Delhi accusing Pakistani forces of mutilating his corpse.
“It was a barbaric incident that defies logic and civilised behaviour. We
will take it up with Pakistan in an appropriate manner,” Kumar said.
Navjot Sidhu, an Indian cricketer-turned-politician, earlier came under
fire after returning from Pakistan where he was filmed hugging the country’s
army chief.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1852 HRS