India, Pakistan trade barbs at assembly

Dispute centers on violence in Kashmir

NEW YORK ––India and Pakistan, whose foreign ministers almost met in New York for what would have been the nucleararmed neighbors’ first seniorlevel talks in three years, instead exchanged hostilities at the United Nations.

India’s external affairs minister Saturday blamed Pakistan’s alleged support of violence against it for the breakdown of the most recent attempt to improve relations, accusing Pakistan of harboring terrorist groups and using them as an instrument of foreign policy. Pakistan’s foreign minister, speaking hours later from the same rostrum, said India was seeking to “divert world attention from its brutalities.”

“India called off dialogue for a third time for the Modi government, each time on flimsy grounds,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, calling on India to seek a resolution of disputes. “They prefer politics over peace. They used the Kashmir violence as an excuse to back out of the talks.”

India last week called off a foreign minister-level meeting during the UN General Assembly meeting because of renewed violence in the Kashmir region, which is claimed in full by both nations. In response, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was disappointed by India’s “arrogant response.”

“We are accused of sabotaging the process of talks,” India Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj said Saturday at the UN meeting. “This is a complete lie. We believe that talks are only rational means to resolve the most complex of disputes.”