'It Was Our Fault': Nawaz Sharif Admits Pakistan Violated Lahore Peace Deal Signed With India In 1999

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif admitted on Tuesday that Islamabad violated an agreement with India, apparently referring to the Kargil conflict initiated by the then Pak Army chief General Pervez Musharraf.

Sharif made this admission during a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) general council meeting, where he was elected president of the ruling party, six years after being disqualified by the Supreme Court.

Sharif recalled the events following Pakistan's nuclear tests on 28 May, 1998, which led to a historic summit resulting in the Lahore Declaration signed by him and then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 21 February 1999.

The declaration aimed to foster peace and stability between the two nations.

However, a few months later, Pakistani forces intruded into the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir, triggering the Kargil conflict.

"On May 28, 1998, Pakistan carried out five nuclear tests. After that Vajpayee Saheb came here and made an agreement with us. But we violated that agreement...it was our fault," Sharif told a meeting of the PML-N general council, news agency PTI reported.

Sharif also said that an offer was made by former US President Bill Clinton, who proposed $5 billion to Pakistan to halt its nuclear tests.

Sharif claimed he rejected the offer, stating that a leader like former Prime Minister Imran Khan would have accepted it.

Sharif, now 74, also spoke about his ousting from office in 2017, attributing it to a false case orchestrated by then Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.

He asserted that the charges against him were baseless while those against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan were legitimate.

He also accused former ISI chief Gen Zahirul Islam of playing a role in toppling his government in 2017 to install Imran Khan in power.

Sharif challenged Khan to deny the involvement of the ISI in his rise to power, recounting how General Islam had pressured him to resign in 2014, threatening to make an example of him upon refusal.

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