Asked about Mr Nawaz Sharif’s comments on the Lahore Declaration, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly briefing here on Thursday evening: “You are aware of our position on the issue. We note that there is an objective view emerging in Pakistan as well.”
Mr Sharif had been quoted by news agencies as saying: “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.” It may be recalled that Gen. Musharraf had seized power later that year in 1999 in the nuclear-armed Islamic nation and had deposed the civilian government of Mr Sharif.
But it was not the only time Mr Nawaz Sharif was let down by his country’s Army establishment. In 2014, Mr Nawaz Sharif, who was again the Prime Minister of his country, had visited Delhi to attend the oath-taking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, following which Mr Modi had visited Lahore the next year in 2015 and had met Mr Nawaz Sharif. But the Pakistan Army was widely believed to have again sabotaged the peace overtures between the two nations, which led to the Pathankot terror attack in 2016, followed by the terror attack in Uri that disrupted ties between the two neighbours.
