No resumption of dialogue: MEA on Indo-Pak talks

NEW DELHI: India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj will meet Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi during the United Nations General Assembly in New York but "this is just a meeting, not talks or resumption of dialogue," the Ministry of External Affairs reiterated on Thursday.

MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar indicated that the meeting is taking place on Pakistan's request and the date for the meeting was being finalised by the permanent missions of the two countries in New York.



The first day of the high-level General Debate will be on September 25 and will last for nine working days.

This is an informal meeting at the Foreign Ministers' level which takes place every year on the sidelines of the UNGA. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attended the meeting last year, and will attend this year's meeting as well.

Earlier today, news emerged that Pakistan's new Prime Minister Imran Khan has written a letter to PM Modi, seeking to re-start the bilateral talks on key issues "challenging the relationship" including on terrorism and Kashmir.

In the letter dated September 14, Khan also proposed a meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this month.

"Building on the mutual desire for peace between our two countries, I wish to propose a meeting between Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, before the informal meeting of the SAARC foreign ministers at the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York," Khan wrote.

Pakistan and India have an "undeniably challenging relationship", he said, while responding to Modi's letter to him on August 18.

In the letter to Khan, Modi conveyed India's commitment to pursue "meaningful" and "constructive" engagement with Pakistan and emphasising the need to work for a terror-free South Asia.

(With agency inputs)