Business Standard

Love to see what Sharif will do to improve ties with India:

Image

Press Trust of India Srinagar
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating", Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today, emphasising he would love to see what Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will do to improve ties with India.

Describing as "heartening" some of the statements emanating from Islamabad after Sharif's return to power, Omar told PTI here that improved relationship between India and Pakistan benefitted his state which suffers when Indo-Pak ties turn sour.

The Chief Minister expressed the view that one indicator of Sharif's commitment to improve the ties could come from whether Pakistan buys 500 MW of electricity from India.
 

"I mean today Pakistan has villages where 22 out of 24 hours, there is no electricity, cities where 10 hours you have power cuts. Whether the establishment and some other forces in Pakistan allow him to buy that electricity, let's see. Will he be able to give India Most Favoured Nation status that also remains to be seen," he said.

"Because if you can't move forward on areas in which Pakistan is going to benefit, how could we expect him to move forward in areas like Siachen, Sir Creek and the biggest question of all which is Kashmir," the Chief Minister said.

After Sharif was voted back to power, Omar had said the PML(N) leader had the track record of trying to improve relations between the two countries.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Jul 08 2013 | 4:05 PM IST

Explore News