India snubs Pak at SAARC meet in New York as Sushma Swaraj leaves meeting midway

SAARC informal meet on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly saw India snubbing Pakistan and strongly raising the issue of terror.

The meet that happened in The Westin Grand Central hotel in New York was attended by all members of SAARC but the meeting that was to happen for two hours concluded in just over one hour with India's external affairs minister making the statement and leaving.

Highlighting the number of threats and incidents that endanger South Asia, India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said, terrorism remains the single largest threat to peace and stability in our region. She said it is "necessary that we eliminate the scourge of terrorism in all its forms, without any discrimination and end the ecosystem of its support."

But it was Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was at his undiplomatic best. Confirming that there were no talks between India and Pakistan, Qureshi said, "EAM left midway, maybe she wasn't feeling well. I listened to her statement. She talked of regional cooperation. How is regional cooperation possible, when everybody is ready to sit & talk & you're blocking that?"

Without taking name he said, "attitude of one country is blocking the progress of SAARC, connectivity&prosperity of this region & defying the spirit of SAARC".

Meanwhile, India has slammed Pakistan saying remarks by Pakistani Foreign Minister about EAM leaving SAARC foreign minister's informal meeting were "surprising and unfortunate." New Delhi also dismissed allegations by Pakistani Foreign Min regarding India not being serious about SAARC as "baseless & away from reality."

India did extensively talked about various SAARC related projects & expressed its commitment for making SAARC a success as a regional grouping.

Interestingly, Afghanistan's foreign minister Salahuddin Rabbani had also left from SAARC FMs meet midway. Afghanistan has already highlight Pakistan using terror as a policy.

Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah who represented his country at the annual UNGA meet said terror "breeding grounds and sanctuaries" need to be shut but the "response has been sparse."

It must be recalled that SAARC summit which was to be held in Islamabad was boycotted by not only India but Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Many will say what happened at the SAARC meet confirms Pakistan's isolation.

All eyes are now on September, 29th when India's external affairs minister and Pakistan's foreign minister will speak at UNGA.