Lahore: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif admitted on Tuesday that Pakistan violated an agreement with India, which he had signed alongside former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999. This admission is perceived as a reference to the Kargil conflict initiated by General Pervez Musharraf.
“On 28 May 1998, Pakistan conducted five nuclear tests. After that, Vajpayee Saheb visited and we signed an agreement. However, we breached that agreement… it was our fault,” Sharif stated during a meeting of the PML-N general council that elected him president of the ruling party six years after his disqualification by the Supreme Court.
The Lahore Declaration, signed on 21 February 1999, aimed to establish peace and stability between the two countries. However, a few months later, Pakistani forces’ incursion into the Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir led to the conflict.
Sharif also highlighted an offer from President Bill Clinton, who proposed $5 billion to Pakistan to halt its nuclear tests, which Sharif declined. He contrasted his decision with what he believed Imran Khan would have done in the same situation.
Addressing the 26th anniversary of Pakistan’s first nuclear tests, Sharif, 74, criticised his removal from office in 2017 by then Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, describing the cases against him as false while claiming the cases against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan were true.
Sharif also accused former ISI chief Gen Zahirul Islam of playing a role in his government’s downfall in 2017 to bring Imran Khan to power. He challenged Khan to deny that he was launched by the ISI.
Sharif recounted a threat from Gen Islam to resign in 2014, which he refused. “When I refused, he threatened to make an example of me,” he said.
Praising his brother Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for his loyalty, Nawaz Sharif recounted attempts to create a rift between them. “Even Shehbaz was asked to become PM in the past and leave me but he declined,” he noted.
Sharif said he would focus on strengthening the party as he resumed the role of PML-N President.
