New Delhi: Over a month after returning to Pakistan from four years of voluntary exile, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that he was ousted from the country for opposing the Kargil war planned against India under the leadership of (late) general Pervez Musharraf.

The three-time prime minister of Pakistan said he was thrown out by General Musharraf, who then led Pakistan's army, because he suggested keeping good relations with India and other key neighbours. 

According to news reports, he said, “I should be told why I was ousted in 1993 and 1999. When I opposed the Kargil plan saying it should not happen ….I was ousted. And later what I said proved right.” 

Sharif, who leads Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), was speaking to aspirants for his party’s tickets for the upcoming elections. He said that he delivered all three times that he served as the country’s prime minister and yet doesn’t know why he was sent packing from the post.

“During my tenure as PM. Two Indian prime ministers visited Pakistan. (Narendra) Modi saab and (Atal) Vajpayee saab had come to Lahore,” he said. 

Reports quoted Sharif saying, “We will have to improve our relations with India, Afghanistan and Iran. We need to make more strong relations with China”. 

Regretting Pakistan’s poor economy, he attacked the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party supremo Imran Khan saying, “The economy witnessed a downfall during Imran Khan’s government (2008-2022).” 

According to a Hindustan Times report, Sharif also restated his call for demanding accountability of former military generals and judges for ruining Pakistan by overthrowing his government in 2017, saying, “Those who brought this country to this level should be made accountable as patriotic people can't do this to their country. We do not want to come into power to roam around in luxury cars but we want accountability of those (who) ruined this country and made false cases against us.”

In 2006, General Musharraf, in his book, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir, had referred to this disagreement with Sharif on Kargil, stating, “The Kargil episode created the biggest divide (between the two). We had both wanted to put Kashmir firmly on the world's radar screen, politically as well as militarily….” However, when “external political pressure forced Sharif to agree to a ceasefire, he broke down. "Rather than deriving strength through national solidarity, he (Sharif) blamed the Army and tried to make himself look clean."

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