A day, after former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif admitted how Islamabad violated the Lahore Declaration in 1999, India on Thursday, responded to the admission and said that "there is an objective view emerging in Pakistan as well".
"You are aware of our position on the issue. We note that there is an objective view emerging in Pakistan as well," the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly press briefing in the national capital, Delhi.
Earlier this week, Nawaz Sharif admitted that Islamabad had "violated" an agreement with India signed by him and ex-prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999, in an apparent reference to the Kargil misadventure by General Pervez Musharraf.
"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 that elected him president of the ruling party six years after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.
After a historic summit in Lahore, Nawaz Sharif and Atal Bihari Vajpayee signed the Lahore Declaration on February 21, 1999. The agreement that talked about a vision of peace and stability between the two countries signalled a breakthrough. Still, a few months later Pakistani intrusion in the Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir led to the Kargil conflict.
The Lahore Declaration
The Lahore Declaration, inked on 21 February 1999 at the close of a landmark summit in Lahore, stands as a pivotal bilateral agreement and governance treaty between India and Pakistan. Ratified by the respective parliaments of both nations that same year, it marked a crucial step towards mutual understanding and cooperation in the realm of nuclear armament.
Central to the treaty were provisions aimed at fostering the responsible development of atomic arsenals and preventing accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons. By committing to these terms, both countries' leadership assumed a heightened obligation to steer clear of a nuclear arms race and to mitigate both non-conventional and conventional conflicts.
The signing ceremony, a widely covered affair, unfolded through a televised press conference featuring Nawaz Sharif and the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, symbolizing a shared commitment to fostering an environment of mutual confidence. This historic event holds profound significance in the annals of Pakistan's history, offering a beacon of hope for improved relations between the two neighbouring nations.
(With inputs from agency)
