Lahore: Former Pakistani prime minister and PML-N
chief Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said that India and Pakistan were
ready to resolve the Kashmir issue in 1999.
"The then Indian Prime Minister (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee
and I were ready to resolve the Kashmir issue in 1999 but Gen
(Pervez) Musharraf did the misadventure in Kargil and then
overthrew my government," Sharif said while addressing a
function here today to mark the anniversary of Pakistan`s
nuclear tests.
"After we carried out the nuclear tests in 1998, India
started taking us on an equal footing. In the following year,
the Indian Prime Minister came to Lahore and we issued a joint
resolution at the Minar-e-Pakistan," he told a crowd of
cheering supporters.
Sharif said when his government went ahead with the
nuclear tests in 1998, half the world was with Pakistan. "I do
not say that no one was with India. There were countries that
were with India when it carried out the nuclear tests." .
Pakistan had become stronger after the blasts but the
subsequent martial law had weakened it, he said. "Had the
people stopped the dictators from toppling the elected
government, Pakistan would have been on the road to progress
today," he contended.
Sharif said he was not happy with the government of
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani as corruption was rampant and Pakistan`s sovereignty
was being compromised. He said he would join the people in
showing the door to the government if it did not mend its
ways.
Pakistan had been shaken by the killing of Osama bin
Laden in a US raid in Abbotabad and the attack on PNS Mehran
naval airbase this month, he said.
"May 28 reminds me of the day when Pakistan tested
nuclear devices, which gave confidence to the nation and the
defence of the country became invincible. But today, Pakistan
is surrounded by dangers despite being a nuclear state,"
Sharif said.
PTI
