Pakistan’s Sharif to attend India PM’s swearing-in
Print Edition
PAKISTANI Premier Nawaz Sharif will attend Indian prime minister-elect Narendra Modi’s inauguration tomorrow, his office said, in an unprecedented diplomatic move aimed at mending strained ties between the rivals.
The Pakistani PM’s attendance will be a first in the history of the South Asian neighbors, which have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and remain bitterly divided over the disputed region of Kashmir.
Like all other heads of government from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, which includes Pakistan, Sharif was formally invited by India this week.
“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to visit India and attend the swearing-in of ... Modi. He will spend a night in India,” his spokesman said.
Modi will take the oath as prime minister tomorrow, 10 days after his right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scored a landslide victory, securing the first single party majority in 30 years.
“It’s very good news that Nawaz Sharif has accepted Mr Modi’s invitation,” BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi.
“It marks a new beginning in ties.”
Sharif earlier hailed Modi’s “impressive victory” and many diplomats hope the two men can thaw ties between the two countries.
Sharif has cited his working relationship with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India’s last prime minister with the right-wing BJP as a reason for optimism, according to diplomatic sources.
It was during Sharif’s second term in 1999 that Vajpayee rode a bus to Lahore to sign a peace accord, raising the prospect for normalization between the two nations.
Three months later, the countries embarked on the Kargil conflict in the Himalayan region of Kashmir — though Sharif has blamed his then-army chief General Pervez Musharraf who went on to overthrow him in a coup, for provoking the fighting without his knowledge.
“Vajpayee had said you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your neighbors. Mr Modi is following just that” principle by extending an invitation to Sharif, Javadekar said.
In Pakistan, Sharif’s move to attend the swearing-in ceremony was hailed by the religious right-wing party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), an ally of his government.
“Pakistan conveyed a positive gesture to India. The decision to attend the swearing-in is a welcome sign,” said JUI chairman Maulana Fazalur Rehman, who also heads a parliamentary special committee on Kashmir.
He added that close ties with India could “help resolve the Kashmir issue.”
Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Indian-held Kashmir, echoed a similar sentiment.
“I hope that this will mark a new beginning in ties between our two countries. The people of J & K (Jammu and Kashmir) will be watching closely,” he said on Twitter.
“Can’t help feel sorry for others taking oath or attending because the only photo op that will matter now will be the Modi-Sharif handshake.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
