Sharif Repeats Decades-old Monologue: “No Durable Peace with India without Kashmir Solution”

NEW DELHI, April 11: The newly elected prime minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif has given the same old elixir about India and Kashmir stating that a durable peace in the region would not be possible without a solution to Kashmir tangle. As usual, he has nothing new to say about improving relations between the two countries.

In his address to Pakistan Parliament after being elected as the country’s 23rd prime minister, Sharif on Monday said he wanted “good relations” with India, but also brought up the Kashmir issue. “We want good relations with India but a durable peace can’t be possible without Kashmir’s solution,” repeating what all Pakistani leaders have said for decades.

Terming his predecessor Imran Khan’s “foreign conspiracy for the ouster of his government” claims as “drama”, Shehbaz vowed to resign if Imran’s allegations were proved.

Referring to the letter related to the “foreign conspiracy” that Khan alleged was behind the collapse of his government in Pakistan, Sharif said. “Pakistan’s National Security Committee will be briefed on the controversial letter related to the so-called foreign conspiracy. I will resign and go home if the conspiracy is proved.”

Khan had claimed that the US was involved in the conspiracy to topple the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. The 70-year-old PML-N leader, Sharif, was elected unopposed as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan by the lawmakers in the country’s national assembly after the PTI lawmakers resigned en masse and boycotted the voting. Sharif received 174 votes — two more than the simple majority of 172 required to win the election, the same margin by which the National Assembly had adopted the no-confidence motion against the Khan government on Sunday.

Shehbaz Sharif also claimed that Pakistan was on its way to post the largest budget deficit in the country’s history as well as historical trade and current account deficits. He accused the outgoing Imran Khan government of mismanaging the economy, and said Sharif’s new government awaits a huge challenge to bring it back on track. Sharif also expressed his wish to maintain good ties with European Union (EU) and said would seek extension of Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) plus status next year.

(Manas Dasgupta)