India calls off planned meeting with Pakistan

India has called off a planned meeting between its foreign minister and her Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York this month, aggravating tensions between the longtime rivals.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said India’s decision to pull out of the meeting, which had been announced just a day earlier, follows the killing of an Indian border guard in Kashmir and Pakistan’s glorification of insurgents fighting Indian rule in the Himalayan territory.

The Indian government’s decision to hold talks with Pakistan was strongly criticised by the Congress party and other opposition groups after rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir killed the border guard.