India, Pakistan should look ahead: Nawaz Sharif

In an interaction with a group of Indian journalists, Sharif says he was not happy with the ‘long pause’ in the ties and hoped that both sides will look ahead with a positive approach

PTI

Lahore, Updated At : 11:00 PM Oct 17, 2024 IST

Nawaz Sharif. File photo

India and Pakistan should "bury" the past and look ahead to live like good neighbours, former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday, describing the Indian foreign minister's trip to Islamabad this week to attend a conclave of the SCO bloc as an "opening".

In an interaction with a group of Indian journalists, the three-time former prime minister and president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N) said he was not happy with the "long pause" in the ties and hoped that both sides would look ahead with a positive approach.

Jaishankar travelled to Islamabad on Tuesday for a nearly 24-hour trip to attend the conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), becoming the first Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan in nine years amid continuing strain in ties.

"This is how things should go ahead. We would have liked PM Modi to come but it was good that the Indian foreign minister came. I have said before that we must pick up the threads of our conversation," said Sharif, the elder brother of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

"We have spent 70 years in this way (fighting) and we should not let this go on for the next 70 years... Both sides should sit down and discuss how to go forward," he said. "We can't change our neighbours, neither can Pakistan nor can India. We should live like good neighbours."

There was no bilateral meeting between the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers on the sidelines of the SCO conclave. For New Delhi, the trip was to attend the multilateral meeting.

However, some senior functionaries in the Pakistani establishment are projecting the Indian minister's visit as an "ice-breaker".

Sharif described Jaishankar's trip to Islamabad as an "opening" and a positive step.

When asked whether a bridge builder between the two countries was required, he said, "that is the role I am trying to play".

"We should not go to the past and should look at the future. It would be better if we bury the past so that we can use the potential between the two countries," Sharif said.