Sharif admits Pak hand in 26/11

EXPM says Islamabad has been isolated by world community for failing to counter terrorism

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has questioned the policy of using Pakistan-based militant groups for cross-border attacks on India as he mounted a scathing attack on the powerful military establishment’s perceived meddling in politics.

Sharif, ousted from his post by the Supreme Court last July for dishonesty in the Panama Papers case and subsequently barred from contesting elections for life, indicated during an interview with Dawn newspaper that Pakistan had been isolated by the world community for failare

Militant organisations are active. Call them nonstate actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me... Why can’t we complete the trial? NAWAZ SHARIF, former PM, Pakistan

ing to counter terrorism.

On the campaign trail in Multan ahead of general elections expected in a few months, the three-time premier said: “Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me.

“Why can’t we complete the trial?” he added, an apparent reference to the trial of seven Lashkar-e-taiba (LET) members, including operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, for their alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. “It’s absolutely unacceptable. This is exactly what we struggling for. President (Vladimir) Putin has said it. President Xi (Jinping) has said it…we could have already been at 7% growth (in GDP), but we are not,” he added.

The Mumbai attacks trial, which began in early 2009, has stalled in an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad. The judge has been changed more than eight times and the chief prosecutor was recently removed.

Lakhvi is currently free on bail.

Sharif, 68, evaded a question on the reason for his ouster from public office and steered the conversation towards foreign policy and national security. He indicated that Pakistan’s policy on terrorism had failed to satisfy the world community.

“We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan’s narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it,” he said.

In an apparent reference to the military’s meddling in politics and its role in anti-corruption investigations against members of the Sharif family and leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the 68-year-old Sharif said: “You can’t run a country if you have two or three parallel governments. This has to stop. There can only be one government: the constitutional one.”