India and Pakistan have agreed to attend the SAARC foreign ministers' meet in New York next month despite brewing tensions over India's decisions in Kashmir. Pakistan was slated to host the 19th SAARC summit. The same, however, was boycotted by India over Uri attack

New York: Despite heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the changed constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir, the two countries have agreed to attend the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York next month. Upset with Indian government's decision to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has attempted to garner international support and the country's Prime Minister Imran Khan has promised to raise the issue at the UNGA meet in the last week of September.

"The participation of the two countries in the meeting chaired by Nepal can result in some positives," news agency ANI cited officials as saying.

"India and Pakistan have already sent their concurrence to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Secretariat in Kathmandu," officials were quoted as saying in the agency report.

SAARC Council of Ministers is an annual affair held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. While there were speculations that the SAARC council of ministers might not take place on the backdrop of escalating tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad over Kashmir, the two sides have confirmed their participation in the meet.

While the 18th SAARC summit was held in Kathmandu, the 19th summit was slated to be hosted by Pakistan. The same, however, could not take place as India pulled out of the event following a strike in Uri which resulted in the death of 19 people.