Want good ties with India but no peace without Kashmir issue resolution: Shehbaz Sharif

Newly-elected Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that his government wants good relations with India, but added that peace would not be possible without the resolution of the so-called “Kashmir issue”.

In his inaugural speech in the National Assembly soon after his election, Sharif touched on the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir and said that Pakistan will offer “diplomatic and moral support” to “Kashmiri brothers and sisters” and also bringing up the matter at each global forum.

“Neighbours are not a matter of choice, it is something we have to live with. Unfortunately, our relations with India could not improve in the past,” Sharif said.

“We want good relations with India, but peace cannot be discussed without resolution of the Kashmir issue,” he added.

Sharif further said that there are economic challenges in both India and Pakistan, including unemployment, healthcare and education, and addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, “why do we want to disadvantage our coming generations? Let’s decide the Kashmir issue in accordance with the desires of the Kashmiri people, and let’s end the conflict on both sides, create employment, progress and happiness.”

Shehbaz Sharif, President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and former leader of the Opposition, was elected the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan by the National Assembly of the country on Monday following the ouster of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government after a no-confidence motion late on Saturday.

Ahead of the voting on Prime Minister’s election, PTI legislators resigned en masse from the National Assembly and walked out of the National Assembly after a speech by former Foreign Minister and PTI candidate for the prime ministerial post, Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was set to grab the top post after former Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was ousted from power following the no-confidence motion against the regime.

Shortly after being elected as Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif in his inaugural speech at the National Assembly announced a parliamentary probe into the “foreign conspiracy” to topple Imran Khan’s government and offered to resign if there is a shred of evidence to prove the allegation.

“As the elected Prime Minister, I announce that a briefing be given to the security committee of the National Assembly on-camera in which Army leadership, DG-ISI, Foreign Secretary and the diplomat who wrote the ‘letter’ is present,” Sharif said, adding that, “we should not delay it as the entire country should know.”

He further said that he would resign from his position if even a shred of evidence is found proving the “foreign conspiracy” allegations.

“I say it on behalf of all our members that I will resign if a shred of evidence is found that it was a foreign conspiracy, that we got support from a foreign power, if our involvement is proved anywhere, I say it with you as witness Mr Speaker that I will resign that very second and go home,” Sharif said.

Imran Khan had accused the US of interfering in Pakistan’s politics and plotting to oust his regime citing an alleged “threat letter” that was sent to Pakistan carrying the exchanges between Pakistani diplomats and US officials.

The new Prime Minister at the beginning of his speech said, “Today’s day is an important day for all Pakistanis, as today the people have shown a ‘selected’ Prime Minister the way back home by the way of constitution and law.”

“Today, the almighty has saved Pakistan and the 22 crore people of the country. This is the first time when the vote of no-confidence motion was successfully passed. The people of this country will celebrate this day,” Sharif further said.

He also talked about the historic Supreme Court judgement of 7 April, saying that the rejection of the “doctrine of necessity” by the Pakistan Supreme Court should be commemorated every year.

“No one in future will be able to use the ‘doctrine of necessity’ in future,” Sharif said.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court in a historic judgement on Thursday had called for the convening of the session of the National Assembly “not later than 10:30am on Saturday” after setting aside the 3 April ruling of the Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri against the no-confidence motion on “Constitutional grounds”.

Declaring the ruling of the Deputy Speaker “to be contrary to the Constitution and the law and of no legal effect”, the Court set aside all the subsequent steps taken, including the dissolution of the National Assembly, while also restoring Prime Minister Imran Khan and all the Federal Ministers to their respective positions as of 3 April.

The court also fixed the Saturday session with the conditions that the session cannot be prorogued unless the motion is voted upon, and in case Imran Khan loses the no-trust vote, the next PM had to be elected in the same session.

Ousted Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has demanded an “immediate elections” in the country, hours after Shehbaz Sharif took oath as the 23rd Prime Minister on Monday.

Taking to Twitter, Imran Khan who is the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said, “Let the people decide, through fair and free elections, whom they want as their prime minister. He also said that he would be holding a rally in Peshawar on April 13.

“We are demanding immediate elections as that is the only way forward -- to let the people decide, through fair & free elections, whom they want as their prime minister,” he Tweeted.

“On Wednesday I will be holding a jalsa in Peshawar after Isha - my first jalsa after being removed through a foreign- instigated regime change. I want all our people to come, as Pakistan was created as an independent, sovereign state not as a puppet state of foreign powers,” he said in another Tweet on Monday.

The voting on the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was held in the country’s National Assembly late on Saturday night, with 174 members recording their votes in favour of the motion that ousted the Imran Khan government.

Newly-elected Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stoked controversy after he reportedly deviated from the oath, as mandated in the country's constitution.

Prime Minister-elect Shehbaz Sharif was administered the oath by the Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani after President Arif Alvi fell ill.

Taking to Twitter, Marvi Sirmed, who is a Professor University of Connecticut, said it is outrageous to see how the oath to PM's office has been changed. Explaining how the oath of the Pak PM is part of the constitution, she even asked how can a babu just change it.

"It is outrageous to see how the oath to PM's office has been changed and PM @CMShehbaz (change your handle sir) agreeing to it. Was the text changed with your consent Bilawal Bhutto Zardari? Can you please at least raise this? Oath is part of constitution. How can a babu just change it?" Marvi Sirmed tweeted.

Another Twitter user Moawiz Taimur agreed with Sirmed's observation. He tweeted, "Yes, well noted. There are changes - 'Khatem ul Kutab' - 'Khatem -un-nabeein yeni jin kay baad koi nabi nahi aa sakta' ( if the meaning of Khatem e nabeein in arabic is last prophet then why added "jin kay baad koi nabi nahi aa sakta."