On Pakistan’s request, a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi will take place on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday, 20 September.
Talking to reporters on Thursday, Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson said that the decision has been taken after a request from Pakistan’s side.
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MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar also termed the latest incident along the International Border with Pakistan where a BSF soldier was found with his throat slit as “barbaric”.
Here is all you need to know
- The meeting on the sidelines of UNGA is not a resumption of dialogue between the two countries.
- It doesn’t change India’s stand on terror, said Kumar.
- Though the agenda for the meeting has not been finalised, they are likely to revolve around terrorism.
- India has maintained that ‘terror and ties’ do not go hand in hand.
- External Affairs Minister will raise this issue
- On the raging controversy over the opening of opening the Kartarpur gurudwara corridor on the other side of the border for Indian pilgrims, Kumar said though there has been no official dialogue from Pakistan’s side yet
- The two nations have not held significant talks since 2015 when Swaraj had gone to Islamabad for Heart of Asia conference.
- The ties between the two countries have been strained after Pakistan-based terror groups launched attacks in India in 2016.
- On Wednesday, the mutilated body of a BSF Head Constable Narendra Kumar was along the International Border in Jammu
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- Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote to PM Modi on September 14 in response to his congratulatory letter, specifically proposing a Sushma-Qureshi meet on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York.
- In his victory speech after Pakistan’s general election, Khan had said his government would be willing to take “two steps forward” to improve ties with India if New Delhi took one.
- Pakistan had also sought US help earlier this month, saying it wanted peace on the eastern border in order to concentrate on the western border with Afghanistan.