Nawaz Sharif tells Pakistan govt, army that it's time to fix India relationship

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today regretted that Pakistan's poor relations with India and said it was time for this to change.

Addressing Pakistan's National Security Conference in Islamabad, which was attended by ministers, chief ministers and political leaders of all major parties, army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and other senior civil and military officials including ISI chief Lt-Gen Zaheerul Islam, Sharif noted with dissatisfaction that Pakistan did not have good ties with its neighbours.

Reuters

The Pakistan Prime Minister mentioned India in particular, saying that it was high time that the relationship between the two countries was mended.

He added that he hoped a planned meeting of the foreign secretaries would help move ties forward.

Sharif also said Pakistan wanted to improve ties with Afghanistan and added that he hoped that the new leadership in that country would cooperate with him.

The Pakistani leader also criticised moderate cleric Tahir-ul Qadri who has been challenging the government with a wave of protests resulting in clashes with police in Punjab.

Sharif extended an olive branch to former cricketer Imran Khan, the chief of the political party Tehreek-e-Insaaf, saying that the government was ready to settle the issue of rigging allegations by recounting the ballots in some constituencies.

Khan has a given call for a mammoth 'Azad' rally on 14 August in Islamabad to protest against the alleged rigging of last years polls which brought the PPP and Sharif to power.

The prime minister said that the economic outlook of the county was changing and promised to tackle the crippling energy crisis and the scourge of terrorism in the country.

Later, the military leadership briefed the political leaders about the operation in restive North Waziristan tribal region which was launched on June 15 to eliminate militants from the area.

PTI