NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday blamed his own country for violating the Lahore agreement of 1999 signed by him and the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
In an apparent reference to the Kargil misadventure, Sharif, who was sworn in as the PML-N President on Tuesday, reminded his audience that Pakistan violated the agreement that was signed on February 21, 1999.
"On May 28, 1998, Pakistan carried out five nuclear tests. After that Vajpayee Saheb came here and made an agreement with us. But we violated that agreement...it was our fault," Sharif said.
Sharif was elected as President of the PML-N six years after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.
The Lahore agreement talked about a vision of peace and stability between the two countries signalling a major breakthrough, but a few months later Pakistan's intrusion in the Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir led to the Kargil War.
"President Bill Clinton had offered Pakistan $ 5 billion to stop it from carrying out nuclear tests but I refused. Had a person like (former prime minister) Imran Khan been on my seat, he would have accepted Clinton's offer," Sharif added.