Set to become Pakistan’s Prime Minister for the third time, Nawaz Sharif on Monday said he will be very happy to invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his swearing-in ceremony.
Sharif said in lahore he would be “very happy” to invite the Indian Prime Minister to his swearing-in for a record third term as premier. “I will be very happy to extend that invitation. If he will come, it will be a great pleasure for me and for Pakistan,” Sharif said when asked if he would
invite Singh to his oath-taking ceremony.
Sharif said he got a call from Singh on Sunday. “We had a long chat on the phone and then he extended an invitation to me and I extended an invitation to him.”
Sharif had earlier said he was keen on resuming the Indo-Pak peace process that was interrupted in 1999 by then Army Chief Pervez Musharraf, who ousted Sharif’s Government in a military coup.
“We’ll pick the threads from where we left them. We want to move towards better relations with India, to resolve the remaining issues through peaceful means, including that of Kashmir,” Sharif said.
Inviting Sharif to India on a mutually convenient date, Singh said in a statement: “The people of India welcome your publicly articulated commitment to a relationship between India and Pakistan that is defined by peace, friendship and cooperation. I look forward to working with you and your Government.”
Manmohan Singh’s invite to Nawaz Sharif to visit India drew a mixed response with the BJP saying he was in “haste” and mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir welcoming the move.
The main Opposition was of the view that the Prime Minister should have waited and first assessed any positive change in Pakistan’s attitude towards India.
The Prime Minister’s move, however, got the backing of the ruling National Conference and Opposition PDP in Jammu and Kashmir.
Union Minister and NC leader Farooq Abdullah said the invitation extended by the Prime Minister was a “welcome and bold step” while PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said it offered a great opportunity for the leadership of India and Pakistan to “chart a new course” in bilateral relations.
In disagreement with them, BJP vice-president Balbir Punj said: “The Prime Minister has been in too much of a haste to invite Nawaz Sharif. In fact, we should have waited to see what changes come about in Pakistan’s attitude towards India and if there were some positive signs, surely he would have invited him.”
The BJP leader said it was too early to invite Sharif as he was yet to take over as the Prime Minister in Pakistan. “But it is too early and in fact it doesn’t make much sense to invite him even before he had been sworn in,” Punj said.
Another senior BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said an invitation is a gesture of goodwill.“I will write to him and congratulate him. He will not be able to visit India immediately. Extending the invitation was a formality,” he said.
Congratulating Sharif over his victory, Jaswant Singh said: “To recover his position and regain the confidence of the people is remarkable. However, Pakistan will have to take note that these militants are more a threat to them now than to India”
The former External Affairs Minister also said: “I have had the honour to have dealt with him (Sharif) extensively as I accompanied the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to that epic journey to lahore. I think there will be an improvement in relations.”