Lahore: Reaching out to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday (October 17) that Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar’s trip to Islamabad to take part in the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was a positive sign and hoped that this would be a stepping stone to better ties.
“This thread should be picked up,” said Sharif to a group of Indian journalists at the office of the chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, on Thursday afternoon.
While Maryam is his daughter, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is his younger brother.
Sharif’s remarks came a day after Jaishankar concluded his two-day visit to Islamabad to attend the SCO council of heads of government summit.
Both India and Pakistan had strenuously stated that bilateral talks would not take place during Jaishankar’s visit.
“This is a start – we hope there is a beginning and an opening with the foreign minister’s visit. Meetings should go ahead, whether it is SAARC or any other occasion, these must not be missed,” Sharif said.
Jaishankar’s visit, which was the first by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in nine years, passed without the typical verbal volleys that have marked Indo-Pakistani ties in recent years.
Pakistani officials said Jaishankar met with his opposite number M. Ishaq Dar during a brief “pull-aside” at a dinner hosted by Shehbaz Sharif at his residence on Tuesday and that they had a longer conversation during a lunch the next day when seated together among other summit participants.
When asked if Jaishankar’s visit could create an opportunity for bilateral talks, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal simply said on Thursday that beyond the SCO meet, Jaishankar’s only bilateral meeting was with Mongolia and that other than this “some pleasantries were exchanged on the sidelines of the meeting, especially during lunch and dinner”.
Nawaz Sharif also said that although Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not attend the SCO summit, it was a good thing that Jaishankar did.
“We would have liked Modi to come, but it was good that Jaishankar came. I have said before that we must pick up the threads of our conversation. We have spent 70 years in this way [fighting] and we should not let this go on for the next 70 years,” Sharif said.
He added: “We [the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PMLN)] have tried too hard to work on this relationship to let it just go this way. Both sides should sit down and discuss how to go forward. We can’t change our neighbours – neither can Pakistan nor can India. We should live like good neighbours.”
Sharif noted that talks had been halted and resumed several times in the past, but that this should not deter attempts to aspire to better relations.
When asked if the reasons for the disruption had been resolved or were no longer relevant, he responded that this was not the time to dwell on the past.
“Don’t go into the past, both sides have complaints about each other. We should bury the past and look to the future and see the potential of our two nations,” the three-time prime minister also said.
Relations between the two countries are currently in a deep freeze, especially after India in August 2019 revoked the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir. An outraged Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties and snapped trade links in response.
After Modi’s election victory, Sharif attended his swearing-in ceremony in May 2014, which his daughter Maryam reminded the Indian media was a special gesture.
In December 2015, Modi made a sudden, unannounced stop in Lahore, Sharif’s hometown, after departing from Kabul.
“When Modi called me from Kabul and said he wanted to wish me for my birthday, I told him he was very welcome. He came and met my mother. These are not small gestures; they mean something to us, especially in our countries. We should not overlook them,” said Sharif.
However, the brief period of goodwill quickly ended as a series of terror attacks followed, entrenching India’s policy that “terror and talks cannot go together”.
Criticising former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Sharif said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader “used words that destroyed the relationship – as leaders of two countries and neighbours we should not even think let alone utter such words”.
During his interaction, Sharif went back several times in the past to the bus journey of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Lahore in 1999. He revealed that he still watches videos of the historic visit. “Purano ko yaad karke aacha lagta tha [It felt good to reminisce about the old days].”
He recalled that Vajpayee had sent him a message to inquire about whether Pakistan, which had a surplus of power at that time, could supply to India. “I had readily agreed. We have record of that.”
Sharif asserted that “India, Pakistan and the neighbourhood should deal as India’s own states do with each other – trade, industry, electricity”.
“Maybe my thinking is different from others, but I believe we are a potential market for each other. Why should Indian and Pakistani farmers and manufacturers go outside to sell their products? Goods now go from Amritsar to Lahore via Dubai – what are we doing, who is benefitting from this? What should take two hours now takes two weeks,” said the 74-year-old PMLN leader.
A well-known cricket enthusiast, he urged both countries to restore cricketing ties in each other’s soil. “What do we gain by not sending teams to each other’s countries? They play all over the world, but it is not allowed in our two countries.”
When asked if India should send a team for the Champions’ Trophy, he replied, “You’ve spoken what’s in my heart.”
When asked if he would visit India, Sharif replied, “If Pakistan reaches the Asia Cup final, I will definitely be there.”
Sharif’s father was born in Amritsar, India, while his late wife’s family hailed from Lucknow.
Maryam added that she had only visited India once as a young girl. “I received so much love and affection from Indian pilgrims during my visit to Kartarpur – I would love to visit India, especially Punjab.”
Her father chimed in, “Why stop at Punjab? You should visit Himachal, Haryana and other states too.”
