Lahore: Former premier Nawaz Sharif on Saturday
said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that
Pakistan should "leave Kashmir alone" could harm peace talks
between the two countries.
"This is not a political statement. Such statements
complicate matters. The Indian Prime Minister should not have
made such a statement and there was no need for it," Sharif,
the chief of the main opposition PML-N, said during an
interaction with reporters.
Such a statement could create a hurdle in the
reconciliation process between the two countries, he said in
response to a question about Singh's remarks.
During a recent meeting with editors, Singh had said
he hoped that "Pakistan will leave Kashmir alone, because they
have their own share of internal problems".
Sharif was earlier criticised by his detractors for
saying that Pakistan should stop considering India its enemy.
He had also claimed that former Indian premier Atal
Bihari Vajpayee and he had worked on modalities to resolve the
Kashmir issue in 1999.
During today's interaction with reporters, Sharif
announced that the PML-N would make all efforts to form a
"grand alliance" to oust the Pakistan People's Party-led
government at the centre.
"We welcome the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to the
opposition and will form a grand alliance to get rid of this
government," he said.
He asked the PPP-led government to stop misleading the
people on US drone attacks.
"The US drones fly from our airbases and target our
people," he said.
He said the government should come clean on the issue
of drone attacks instead of publicly condemning them while
tacitly allowing the US to carry on with its spy plane
campaign.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, July 02, 2011, 22:42