 "With Kargil War, we violated the Lahore Declaration, says ex-Pak PM Nawaz")
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Tuesday, admitted that Islamabad had “violated” a pact with India that he and former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had signed in 1999, referring to the Kargil incident under General Pervez Musharraf's leadership.
“On May 28, 1998, Pakistan carried out five nuclear tests. After that, Vajpayee Saheb came here and made an agreement with us. But we violated that agreement... It was our fault,” Sharif said during a meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) general council that elected him president of the ruling party six years after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The agreement referred by Sharif was the ‘Lahore Declaration’, signed between him and then-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on February 21, 1999. The agreement aimed at bringing peace and stability between the two nations. However, within a short span, Pakistani forces infiltrated the Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to the Kargil War.
Nuclear tests and politics
During the PML-N general council meeting, the former Pakistan prime minister said that he carried out nuclear tests despite pressure from the United States and took a dig at ex-PM Imran Khan. “President Bill Clinton had offered Pakistan $5 billion to stop it from carrying out nuclear tests but I refused. If a person like Imran Khan (former prime minister) had been in my seat, he would have accepted Clinton’s offer.”
Sharif asserted that former ISI chief Gen Zahirul Islam had been involved in the ousting of his government in 2017, with the aim of facilitating Imran Khan’s ascent to power. “I ask Imran not to blame us (of being patronised by the army) and tell whether Gen Islam had talked about bringing the PTI into power.”
Sharif also alleged that the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Saqib Nisar, had ousted him from the Prime Minister’s office in 2017 based on unfounded charges.
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What is the Lahore Declaration?
The Lahore Declaration was a comprehensive framework aimed at tackling long-standing issues between India and Pakistan. Its main goals were to foster peace and stability.
The text of the Lahore Declaration said, “The Prime Ministers of the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, sharing a vision of peace and stability between their countries, and of progress and prosperity for their peoples, convinced that durable peace and development of harmonious relations and friendly cooperation will serve the vital interests of the peoples of the two countries.”
(With PTI inputs)