India's Jaishankar, Pakistan's Qureshi likely to come face-to-face at SAARC foreign ministers meeting in New York today

India is set to participate at the SAARC foreign ministers meeting that is to be held on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session amid heightened tensions with Pakistan after scrapping of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, who are currently in the US for the UN General Assembly summit, are expected to hold bilateral and multilateral meetings with different countries. The meeting on the sidelines of the UNGA will on all likelihood bring Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi face to face for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370 in the Valley. [caption id=“attachment_7362101” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. PTI[/caption] When asked about a possible meeting with his Pakistani counterpart as well as the future of the SAARC regional grouping, Jaishankar, at a press conference earlier this month, had said, “If and when I meet Pakistani foreign minister, we will see at that time what happens.” The SAARC is about regional cooperation and that refers to trade, MFN, connectivity etc., the foreign minister said, adding that now every member knows which country is promoting SAARC and which one is impeding it. Last year, former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had attended the SAARC Foreign Ministers meeting, which is usually held on the sidelines of the UNGA. In a veiled attack on Pakistan in last year’s UNGA, Swaraj had told the meeting that the scourge of terrorism remains the single largest threat to peace and stability in the South Asian region and it is necessary to eliminate the ecosystem of its support. Swaraj had immediately left after her remarks at the meeting and did not have any exchange with her Pakistani counterpart Qureshi. The meeting was attended by foreign ministers of the SAARC bloc – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With inputs from PTI