Nawaz Sharif Urges Restraint: Former PM Advocates Diplomacy To Ease India-Pakistan Tensions | Heres Why
As tensions between India and Pakistan escalate following the Pahalgam terror attack and New Delhi’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. According to The Express Tribune, Sharif has advised his brother, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to prioritise dialogue and restraint amid the growing standoff between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan from London this week, reportedly to support the government during a period of heightened security and diplomatic pressure. Sources told The Express Tribune that after being briefed on the National Security Committee’s (NSC) recent deliberations, Nawaz urged Shehbaz to employ all available diplomatic tools to ease the situation and avoid a military confrontation.
The former premier is said to have opposed any aggressive posture and advocated for a calm, measured approach to India’s recent actions, which include precision strikes in Pakistan-administered territory and the suspension of the IWT—a move that Islamabad has termed a serious provocation.
Nawaz Sharif’s call for peace is consistent with his long-standing stance on India-Pakistan relations. In public remarks made in 2023, he reflected on his ousting from office in 1999, linking it to his opposition to the Kargil conflict. “I want to know why my governments were overthrown in 1993 and 1999. Was it because we opposed the Kargil war?” he had said, as quoted by The News International.
Sharif also acknowledged that Pakistan had violated the 1999 Lahore Declaration, a bilateral peace agreement signed with then-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “After Vajpayee Saheb came here and made an agreement with us… we violated that agreement. It was our fault,” Sharif admitted in a rare candid statement last year.
The Lahore Declaration, signed on February 21, 1999, was aimed at de-escalating tensions and promoting regional stability. However, within months of its signing, Pakistani troops infiltrated Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir, triggering a limited but deadly war.
Sharif’s latest intervention comes at a time when Indian and Pakistani forces remain on high alert. With airstrikes, drone incursions, and artillery exchanges marking the worst cross-border violence in years, the former prime minister’s diplomatic overture could influence Islamabad’s response in the days ahead.
