Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, said that his country’s relationship with India should not be held captive by the past and both the nations should “bury the past” and “think of the future.”
Interacting with a group of Indian journalists at the office of the Chief Minister of Pakistan Punjab where Maryam Sharif, daughter and CM, was also present, Nawaz Sharif held former Pakistan PM Imran Khan for deterioration in relations between the two countries.
Nawaz Sharif, brother of incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif and chief of the PML(N), described External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar’s Islamabad trip this week as a “good beginning” and a “good opening”.
He said that India and Pakistan “should move forward from here”.
Jaishankar travelled to Islamabad on Tuesday for a nearly 24-hour trip to attend the conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), becoming the first Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan in nine years amid continuing strain in bilateral ties.
He also expressed his unhappiness over the “long pause” in the India-Pakistan ties and hoped that both sides would look ahead with a positive approach.
‘Would have been better if PM Modi had come to Pakistan’
Nawaz Sharif, three-time former prime minister and president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N), said: “Baat jo hai aise hi badhti hai… baat khatam nahi honi chahiye… achcha hota agar Modi saab khud tashreef laate (This is how talks move forward, talks should not stop. We would have liked it if Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have come himself) for the SCO meeting).”
‘Lost 75 years, now should think of next 75 years’
“I have said before that we should pick up the threads of our conversation where we left,” Sharif said, referring to his meeting with PM Modi who made a sudden visit to Pakistan in December 2015.
“We have lost 75 years, now (we) should think of the next 75 years,” Sharif said, emphasising on the importance of India-Pakistan ties.
“Both sides should sit down and discuss how to go forward,” he further said.
‘Tried to mend India-Pakistan relations’
Sharif further said he had tried to “mend the relationship” between India and Pakistan, “but they were disrupted again and again.”
The disruptions were a reference to the 1999 Kargil war and the attacks in India by Pakistan-based terrorists following Sharif’s meetings with former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and later with PM Modi.
‘We can’t change our neighbours’
Sharif went on to say that neither Pakistan, nor India can change their neighbours. “We should live like good neighbours. We should not go into the past, and should look to the future,” he said.
“Dono taraf ke gile shikwe hain (both sides have their grievances), we should bury the past, we should think about the future… I believe India, Pakistan and the neighbourhood should deal as India’s own states do with each other,” he said as he listed “trade, investments, industry, tourism, electricity” as possible areas of cooperation between the two neighbouring nations.
Trying to play a bridge builder between India & Pakistan
When asked whether a bridge builder between the two countries was required, Sharif said, “that is the role I am trying to play.”
“We should look to the future and see the potential of our two nations which have considerable populations,” he said.
“We should sit together and discuss everything seriously,” Sharif said.
No comments on Article 370 & Kashmir
Asked about Article 370 and Kashmir, he declined to comment saying this was not the occasion to discuss these issues.
Sharif recalls Vajpayee, PM Modi visit to Pakistan
Sharif said he “still remembered very fondly” Vajpayee’s visit to Lahore. “His speech was very good. I sometimes watch YouTube videos of the visit and the speech to revive good old memories,” he said.
On PM Modi’s surprise stopover in Lahore on December 25, 2015, on his way back from Kabul, Sharif said: “Modi’s visit was a pleasant surprise. He called from Kabul and wanted to wish me. He came to my home, met my mother, wife who have since passed on.”
“It was not a small gesture, they mean something to us, especially in our countries. We should not overlook them,” he further said.
Sharif further said, from Vajpayee to Modi, “we have very good prospects of ties. I think very positively about the relationship with India.”
He further mentioned about the “customs and rituals, traditions, cuisine, language” and said, “What’s the difference? I am not happy about the long pause in the relationship, the people-to-people relationship is very good… at the political level, the mindset has to change.”
Sharif blames Imran Khan for deterioration in Indo-Pak relations
Nawaz Sharif held former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan for deterioration in relations between India and Pakistan and especially referred to certain comments made by the cricketer-turned-politician against PM Modi.
“Imran Khan used words that destroyed the relationship. As leaders of the two countries and neighbours, we should not even think, let alone utter such words,” he said, referring to a September 2018 post by Khan in which he supposedly targetted PM Modi.
Sharif pitches for resuming cricketing ties
Sharif even pitched for the resumption of cricketing ties between India and Pakistan and also said that he would like to travel to India if the two teams play in the final of any major tournament in the neighbouring country.
“What do we gain by not sending teams to each other’s countries? They play all over the world, but it is not allowed in our two countries,” he said.
“I am willing to travel to India. If the two teams play the finals, I can go and watch it,” he said.
When asked if India should send a team for the ICC Champions trophy to be held in Pakistan in February, he said, ”you have spoken what’s in my heart.”
Sharif also underlined the importance of having trade ties between the two sides.
“Maybe my thinking is different from others, but I believe we are a potential market for each other. Why should Indian and Pakistani farmers and manufacturers go outside to sell their products,” he said.
“Goods now go from Amritsar to Lahore via Dubai- what are we doing, who is benefitting from this? What should take two hours now takes two weeks,” Sharif said.
India and Pakistan ties came under severe strain after India’s warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.
The ties worsened after India on August 5, 2019, announced the withdrawal of special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and the bifurcation of the state into two union territories.
Also, trade ties between India and Pakistan have remained suspended since 2019 due to the imposition of heavy duties by New Delhi on imports from the neighbouring nation after the 2019 Pulwama attack.
With inputs from PTI.
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