'Disappointed at the arrogant and negative response by India,' says PM Khan

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday took to Twitter to respond to India's cancellation of the meeting between the Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), calling New Delhi's response "arrogant and negative".

"Disappointed at the arrogant and negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue," said PM Khan. "However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture."

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government on Friday had called off the meeting between the Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers — just a day after confirming the development.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had announced the cancellation in a strongly worded statement, saying: "It is obvious that behind Pakistan's proposal for talks to make a fresh beginning, the evil agenda of Pakistan stands exposed and the true face of the new Prime Minister Imran Khan has been revealed to the world in his first few months in office," he said. "Any conversation with Pakistan in such an environment would be meaningless."

However, the reasons cited by India for cancelling the talks have raised questions as they are not recent developments. The MEA spokesperson referred to the "killing of Indian security forces" allegedly by "Pakistani entities" and Islamabad's decision to release stamps allegedly "glorifying terrorists" as the reasons behind the cancellation of talks.

The Foreign Office, in a statement on Friday night, pointed out that the alleged killing of a Border Security Force (BSF) soldier took place two days prior to the Indian announcement of its agreement to hold the bilateral meeting.

“When the allegations of Pakistan's involvement first appeared, the Pakistan Rangers clearly conveyed to BSF through official channels that Pakistan had nothing to do with it. Pakistan Rangers also extended help in efforts to locate the soldier's body," said the FO statement issued on Friday night. “These facts were known to the Indian authorities and a part of the Indian media also reported that Pakistan had refuted its involvement. Yet, this motivated and malicious propaganda continued."

Islamabad also raised the point that the postage stamps mentioned in the Indian statement were issued before the July 25 elections, following which Prime Minister Imran Khan assumed office.

FO had also taken exception to the language and tone of the Indian statement, saying: "Most unfortunate is the reference in the Indian MEA statement to the person of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. We choose not to further comment beyond saying that these comments are against all norms of civilised discourse and diplomatic communication."