India Calls Off Foreign Minister's Meeting With Pakistani Counterpart - Foreign Ministry

NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st September, 2018) The Indian External Affairs Ministry announced Friday its decision to cancel the planned meeting between the country's external affairs minister and her Pakistani counterpart in light of the killings of Indian security staff in disputed Kashmir and Pakistan issuing 20 postage stamps glorifying a terrorist among militants killed in India's security operations in the contested area.

On Thursday, the Indian External Affairs Ministry announced a meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, taking place in New York on September 18-October 5.

"Since yesterday's announcement of a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan in New York later this month, two deeply disturbing developments have taken place. The latest brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and the recent release of a series of twenty postage stamps by Pakistan glorifying a terrorist .

.. In view of the changed situation, there will be no meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan in New York," the Indian statement said.

The ministry added that the latest developments exposed the true face of Pakistan's new Prime Minister Imran Khan and the country's "evil agenda."

Early on Friday, rebels, who, according to the Indian side, are representatives of Pakistan-based entities, raided homes of Indian security personnel in southern Kashmir. As a result, three Indian police officers were abducted and then shot dead. Also on Friday, Pakistan issued 20 postage stamps depicting fighters against alleged Indian oppression in the region. Burhan Wani, a member of the Kashmir-based Hizbul Mujahideen militant organization, which is a designated terrorist group in India, was portrayed on one of the postage stamps.