Sharif, Vajpayee `set time-frame' on Kashmir issue

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JULY 8. The deposed Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, has claimed that India and Pakistan had agreed on a time-frame for resolution of the Kashmir dispute and the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, had ``approved'' of the plan during his visit to Lahore in February 1999.

However, within hours after Mr. Sharif made the disclosure to correspondents at the Attock Fort court, where he is being tried for owning an unaccounted helicopter, the military Government not only rebutted the charge but also accused him of bartering away interests of Pakistan to India.

Mr. Sharif and the military Government have been engaged in a war of words for the last few days on the Kargil war. A statement by Mr. Sharif that the top brass of the military had planned the Kargil operation behind his back created a sensation in political circles.

``The Kashmir issue was making progressing towards an early settlement and negotiations were being held with India. We had decided on a time-frame for its solution and Mr. Vajpayee had approved the same. The way we made Pakistan a nuclear power, we would have reached at a solution to the Kashmir issue as well, but for the military coup'', Mr. Sharif said.

He also ridiculed the offer of talks with India by the Pakistan chief executive, Gen. Pervez Musharaff, and said the nation was fully aware of the facts on the subject. A spokesman of the military regime while rebutting the statement of Mr. Sharif has said he has no locus standi to talk on Kashmir as he had taken several steps during his tenure to ``please'' the Indian leadership.

The army spokesman said the recent statement made by Mr. Sharif on the Kargil conflict has strengthened the position of Mr. Vajpayee and undermined the national interests of Pakistan. ``Even the Lahore accord has benefited him through the sale of his sugar worth crores of rupees,'' he has said.

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Section  : International
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