Introduction: Kashmir would have been solved, Kargil sabotaged it: Sharif
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in his first ever interview since his exile in 1999, has said that he and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had decided on a deadline for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute but Kargil sabotaged the plans.
‘‘I can only say that Vajpayee and myself had almost decided on a deadline for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Vajpayee’s visit to Lahore was a link in the chain. Had it not been for Kargil whereby all our plans were sabotaged, the issue of Kashmir would have reached an historical resolution long ago,’’ he told Khalid Hasan of the Daily Times.
He said that Kargil was a long story but hoped that ‘‘the true version of the misadventure of Kargil shall not remain a secret like the truth behind the fall of Dhaka.’’ Sharif added that all events in the aftermath of the Kargil, especially October 12, 1999, were inextricably interlinked. ‘‘Kargil is a skeleton in Musharraf’s closet. For the time being, I can only say I took everything on my shoulders to save our army from a major embarrassment,’’ said the man who was thrown out of power by a coup led by Musharraf.
Sharif ruled out any compromise
with Musharraf, and a return to Pakistan by ‘‘arrangement’’ with the General.