On Tuesday, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif admitted that Islamabad had “violated” an agreement with India in 1999, referring to the Kargil War. Sharif made these remarks during a meeting of the PML-N general council, where he was elected president of the ruling party, six years after his disqualification by the country’s Supreme Court.
“On May 28, 1998, Pakistan conducted five nuclear tests. Following this, Vajpayee Saheb visited and made an agreement with us. However, we violated that agreement…it was our fault,” Sharif said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
The agreement Sharif referred to was the “Lahore Declaration,” signed between him and then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on February 21, 1999. This agreement aimed to foster peace and stability between the two countries. However, just a few months later, Pakistani troops intruded into the Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to the Kargil War.
During the PML-N general council meeting, Sharif also recounted how he conducted nuclear tests despite pressure from the United States and criticized former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“President Bill Clinton had offered Pakistan USD 5 billion to refrain from conducting nuclear tests, but I refused. Had someone like (former prime minister) Imran Khan been in my position, he would have accepted Clinton’s offer,” Sharif said, on the day Pakistan marked the 26th anniversary of its first nuclear tests.
Sharif further claimed that former ISI chief Gen Zahirul Islam played a role in toppling his government in 2017 to bring Imran Khan to power.
“I ask Imran not to accuse us of being supported by the army and to admit whether Gen Islam talked about bringing the PTI into power,” Sharif said, adding that Khan would sit at the feet of the military establishment.
Sharif also accused the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar of removing him from the office of Prime Minister in 2017 based on a false case.
