India calling off Foreign Minister-level meet 'inappropriate': Qureshi

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday dubbed the cancellation of the proposed meeting between him and External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj as "inappropriate".

Qureshi said that New Delhi backed out of the planned meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries owing to an issue which took place in July. "India in September presented an issue which took place in July as an excuse to back out of the meeting," the foreign minister said while speaking to the media in Doha en route to New York. "I think this is not appropriate," Geo News reported quoting Qureshi.

He further said that the release of a series of 20 postage stamps by Pakistan glorifying a terrorist and terrorism was one of the reasons given by India for the suspension of the meeting. "Stamps were used as an excuse although the stamps in question were distributed before the PTI-led government took charge," Qureshi added.

Qureshi asserted that the meeting was called off due to India's "internal issues" and expressed his disappointment over the decision taken by India. "There is no precedence of how diplomatic protocol was crushed by India," Qureshi said.

India on Friday called off the planned meeting between Swaraj and Qureshi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York after security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir were kidnapped and brutally killed over the past few months.