Indo-pak foreign ministers to meet at UNGA in New York
This is just a meeting, I must distinguish too much should not between a meeting be read into the proposed and a dialogue. This does meeting... This is not a not indicate any change in resumption of dialogue. policy as far as our stand They asked for a meeting, on crossborder terrorism we said ‘yes’ is concerned
RAVEESH KUMAR , spokesperson, external affairs ministry
NEW DELHI: India confirmed on Thursday that external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj will meet her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in New York later this month in response to a letter from Prime Minister Imran Khan to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking such a meeting.
As the neighbours struggle to shake off their accumulated trust deficit, India made it clear the meeting would not amount to resumption of bilateral dialogue or any change on its stated position on cross-border terrorism.
This will be the first such highlevel contact between the two sides since India snapped all for- mal talks with Pakistan following the terror attack on Pathankot airbase in 2016.
“I can confirm that on the request of the Pakistani side, a meeting between EAM and Pakistani foreign minister will take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at a mutually convenient date and time,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told a news briefing.
“This is just a meeting, too much should not be read into the proposed meeting,” Kumar said. “This is not a resumption of dialogue. They asked for a meeting, we said ‘yes’.”
He added: “I must distinguish between a meeting and a dialogue. This does not indicate any change in policy as far as our stand on cross-border terrorism is concerned.”
Swaraj will leave for New York on September 24. She and Qureshi are heading the delegations of their countries to the UN General Assembly. The two foreign ministers will attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) foreign ministers lunch and get-together on September 27. The meeting between Swaraj and Qureshi, expected to be held the same day, will be a stand-alone affair.