Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister of Pakistan, said he was not pleased by the ‘long pause’ in the relationship between the two countries.
Former prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Islamabad was a “good opening” to break the ice between the neighbouring countries, reported news agency PTI.
S Jaishankar travelled to Islamabad on Tuesday for a nearly 24 hour trip to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), becoming the first Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan in the last nine years that came amid continuing strain in ties.
In an interaction with a group of Indian journalists, Nawaz Sharif, a three-time prime minister and president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N), said both sides should now engage and move forward.
Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise trip to Lahore in December 2015, Nawaz Sharif said he was not happy with the “long-pause” in the ties between the two countries and hoped that both sides should look ahead with a positive approach.
“We can’t change our neighbours, neither can Pakistan nor can India. We should live like good neighbours,” the 74 year-old leader said.
“We have spent 70 years in this way (fighting) and we should not let this go on for the next 70 years… Both sides should sit down and discuss how to go forward,” Nawaz Sharif told reporters after S Jaishankar’s visit.