Shehbaz Sharif says PML-N will work to create environment for Kashmir to join Pakistan, compares situation to East, West Germany

Islamabad: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday said that if his party comes to power, it would create an environment for Kashmir to join Pakistan on the pattern of the reunification of East and West Germany. Shehbaz, the PML-N prime ministerial candidate and the brother of jailed former premier Nawaz Sharif, said this in an interview to Geo TV when asked what would be his policy on Kashmir if his party is voted to power after the 25 July general elections. He attacked India for “inhumane treatment” of Kashmiris and said “Kashmir would become part of Pakistan through peace and development.” “I believe that it will be like the Berlin Wall being pulled down. It was the prosperity in West Germany that united the two parts,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_4683661” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Shehbaz Sharif. Getty images[/caption] The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) — West and East Germany respectively — united on 3 October in 1990. On Saturday, while addressing a rally in Sargodha district in Punjab province, he said that people can change his name if he does not take Pakistan ahead of India after coming into power. “They (Indians) will come to Wahga Border and call Pakistanis their master,” 65-year-old Shehbaz said. The former Punjab chief minister said that he would bring Pakistan at par with Malaysia and Turkey. He added that he would meet Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan “to learn from them and make Pakistan a great nation again”. He said that Pakistan cannot become a great nation by voting leaders like Imran Khan who have made false promises to “our nation”. “The U-turn signs should be removed from roads and should be replaced by the picture of Imran Khan,” he said, adding that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief’s politics is based on baseless allegations and false promises. “Khan alleged corruption against the Punjab government but not a single penny has been proved against me,” the PML-N president said. He was the chief minister of Punjab province from June 2013 to June 2018. He was elected as PML-N president in March after his elder brother Nawaz Sharif was disqualified as the party president following a Supreme Court verdict in the Elections Act 2017 case.

The PML-N chief said Nawaz Sharif came back to Pakistan leaving his ailing wife in London but he and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were arrested at the airport. “Nawaz Sharif was not even allowed to meet his mother,” he added. Both Sharif and Maryam have been sentenced by a court to 10 and seven years in prison, respectively, for corruption charges. Maryam’s husband Muhammad Safdar was jailed for one year.