Revealing fresh insights in the Kargil conflict, exiled Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif has said he never wanted to let down Atal Vajpayee
NEW DELHI: Revealing fresh insights in the Kargil conflict, exiled Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif has said he never wanted to let down his Indian counterpart Atal Bihari
Vajpayee for whom he had "great regards" but had to cut a "sorry figure" after being "stabbed in the back" by Pervez Musharraf.
"I was never in favour of a war with India," Sharif, deposed by Musharraf, his handpicked Army Chief, said in an interview in London to 'India Today' group editor Prabhu Chawla.
"I have great regards for Vajpayee. I never wanted to let him down", said Sharif, ousted by Musharraf in October 1999, while recalling that Vajpayee had undertaken a state visit to Pakistan only a few months earlier.
The two leaders had then agreed on a slew of confidence-building measures after Vajpayee had crossed the Wagah border in the inaugural Delhi-Lahore bus.
Musharraf is "someone who can never be trusted. He said he would retire as army general before December 31, 2004. He has never fulfilled that commitment," Sharif contended.
Asked whether Musharraf had kept him in the dark about the Kargil war, Sharif said "He let me and my government down. He stabbed me in the back. I cut a sorry figure before Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee."
To a specific query whether he was unaware of the attacks being planned, Sharif said "not all the details". Do you mean, he never shared anything with you ?. No, not in the manner that should have been," Sharif said.
Sharif, who had decided to pull back his troops after his meeting with President Bill Clinton in Washington, was asked whether he felt something had gone wrong.
He said Musharraf had committed a "blunder and embarrassed me".
Sharif said he had held a three-hour long meeting with President Clinton. "Then he (Clinton) called up Vajpayee in the middle of the night. We felt the conflict in Kargil could lead to a full fledged war between the two countries which could ultimately turn into a nuclear conflict.
"We did our best. We are also thankful to Vajpayee for his cooperation which made the ceasefire possible," he said on what led him to announce the ceasefire.
Sharif also denied that after the coup against him, he had cut a deal with Musharraf to be allowed to go to Saudi Arabia. "I never signed any agreement with Musharraf."
He said Musharraf's three army generals "came to see me on the day of the coup. They brought two papers with them and wanted me to sign them. One was about the dissolution of the National Assembly and the second paper was my resignation as
Prime Minister. I refused to sign the papers and sent them away."
Asked when he planned to return to Pakistan, the former Prime Minister said he intended to do so before the elections.
"Things are very unpredictable at the moment.... But I believe I have a role to play and I'm playing that role," he said.
"Even Musharraf doesn't know whether he is going to get elected in the current assembly or the next assembly. He doesn't know where the country is heading," he said.
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