Shahbaz Sharif as PM of Pakistan is considered more constructive towards India
Highlight
- Imran Khan is considered more fanatical towards India
- Looking forward, Shahbaz Sharif can be more constructive towards bilateral ties with India
- Imran Khan has recently praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is considered to be more staunch towards India, while the waiting Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, may have been more constructive towards bilateral relations. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice President and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in a recent Express Tribune report, “India wants a soft government in Pakistan.” Qureshi said the neighboring country “hates” a Pakistani government that protects its interests and pursues an independent foreign policy, the report said. The former FM said PTI aims to build good relations with India but will not tolerate indiscretions against Kashmir.
However, Imran Khan has recently been singing praises of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The people and political leaders of Pakistan were shocked when they recently saw their prime minister praising India’s foreign policy in front of a crowd of thousands of supporters, The News reported. “It is worth noting that Imran Khan, who, at one time, ridiculed Narendra Modi as Hitler and a Nazi leader in international forums, has now praised his foreign policy, at a time when his government is in danger. There is a collapse,” The News reported.
Addressing a public meeting in Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Khan praised Modi’s foreign policy. He said, “I want to praise our neighbor India for its foreign policy. India’s foreign policy is free and independent, and its sole aim is the betterment of its people.” The report said that Modi established friendly relations with countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan, which were traditional friends of Pakistan. Now, Saudi Arabia has stopped lending to Pakistan, while the UAE has stopped raising the issue of Kashmir despite Pakistan’s provocation.
One name that stems from being close to Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, is Indian steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal. Jindal had a meeting with Nawaz Sharif in Muri in 2017. The news then reported that the Indian delegation had sought the meeting to play a role in de-escalating tensions between the two nuclear neighbours. Jindal was part of the delegation that visited Pakistan in December 2015 during the sudden visit of Narendra Modi. Jindal had reportedly hosted a lunch for Nawaz Sharif during his visit to India later in August 2014, The News reported.
The contact was confirmed by Maryam Nawaz, who then dismissed the suggestion that the meetings were “secret” in nature. He had then tweeted: “Mr Jindal is an old friend of the Prime Minister. There is nothing ‘secret’ about the meeting and should not be thrown out of proportion.”