As Pak reels under Indian pressure, Nawaz Sharif advises brother Shehbaz to ease tensions diplomatically

ISLAMABAD: Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack and India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stepped in to advise his brother, current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on the need for a diplomatic approach to ease the growing crisis, The Express Tribune reported.

Following India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty in the wake of the Pahalgam attack, Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan from London to help his brother the Prime Minister.

After his arrival, The Express Tribune reported that Sharif had advised PM Shehbaz Sharif to ease tension diplomatically after he briefed the PML-N supremo on the decisions taken by the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting in the wake of the suspension of the IWT by India.

It was said that Sharif wanted the PML-N-led coalition government to utilise all available diplomatic resources to restore peace between the two nuclear-armed states, saying he was not keen on taking an aggressive position, The Express Tribune reported.

Earlier in 2023, Nawaz Sharif had underlined the importance of having good relations with India and said that his government was ousted in 1999 because he opposed the Kargil war.

According to The News International, Nawaz had said that PML-N always performed well but was always ousted from power.

“I want to know why my governments were overthrown in 1993 and 1999. Was it because we opposed the Kargil war,” Nawaz had said.

Nawaz Sharif was the Prime Minister of Pakistan when his government was overthrown in a coup d’etat on October 12, 1999. Last year, Nawaz also admitted that Pakistan had ‘violated’ an agreement with India in 1999.

“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,” the former PM had said.

The agreement mentioned by Sharif was the “Lahore Declaration,” which he and then-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee signed on February 21, 1999, with the goal of fostering peace and stability between India and Pakistan. However, shortly after the signing, Pakistani troops infiltrated the Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to the Kargil War. (ANI)