Can't run a country with two or three parallel govts, says Nawaz Sharif; hints at Pakistan's role in 26/11 attacks

Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday for the first time indicated that Pakistan establishment “allowed” terrorists to enter India as he sought a speedy trial in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He also reportedly admitted, in a first, that anti-India terror organisations are indeed operating out of Pakistani soil. [caption id=“attachment_4430035” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. AP[/caption] In an interview published by the Pakistani daily Dawn, Sharif asked, “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,” he continued “Why can’t we complete the trial?” Sharif said in an apparent reference to the long-standing court case in the Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people. The case has been stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court since October 2009. On 26 November, 2008 , 10 terrorists of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) arrived in Mumbai by sea route and opened fire indiscriminately at people on different locations. In the mayhem that followed over the next three days, 166 people were killed, including 18 police officers and two NSG commanders, and 308 people injured, besides property worth crores left damaged. An admission of sorts also came in for the first time from Sharif on the power the military and various anti-India groups hold in his country. The former prime minister spoke of “parallel governments” and said it was difficult to run a state like that. “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”, he said. He also blasted the government for its failure in foreign policy. “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.