Lashing out at Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, deposed premier Nawaz Sharif has said the Kashmir issue has become more complicated under the General's rule and accused him of doling out concessions to India without any reciprocity.
Asking Pakistanis to rise against military rule, he said the country's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah would have had second thoughts about creating it if he had any inclination that the army would rule it for such a long period.
'India says 'get lost,' and we start giving assorted proposals on Kashmir,' Sharif, who is currently in London after a five-year exile in Jeddah, told The Nation daily in an interview.
He said: 'India says no redrawing of borders, but we keep repeating the offers... the reality is that the issue of Kashmir has become more complicated and Pakistan is on the back foot,' he said.
Sharif criticised the policies of the Musharraf government and accused him of mortgaging the country's sovereignty, honour and national interest. He called on Pakistanis to rise against the military rule, saying enough is enough.
'I ask the people of Pakistan to rise. And rise now. Otherwise, it will be too late. I am giving them a wakeup call.'
Sharif said people should start the struggle for a decisive battle and make Pakistan the country that Jinnah envisioned. 'Had the Quaid (Jinnah) known that the army would rule over this country for such a long period, he must have given second thoughts while struggling for the creation of Pakistan.'
'Where is the Kashmir issue now? Where is our freedom and sovereignty now? We have been assigned the task to shine somebody else's vessels,' Sharif said.
He said that under the civilian governments, Pakistan became a nuclear power, acquired missile technology, launched motorway project, constructed airports of Karachi and Lahore.
'My message to the people is that they should shed all their reservations and fears of any uniformed man or any military dictator. They should get out of that. They should stand up to save Pakistan and tell these military rulers never to come back because they bring disasters for the country. Each time they came they brought disaster. We lost East Pakistan, and then Siachen," Sharif said.
Referring to the recent US missile attacks on Bajur tribal area to target al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, he said, 'Our sovereignty has become a joke. The US aircraft attack the Bajaur agency and kill innocent Pakistanis but there is no one in the government who could protest.
'This is what we have done with ourselves. I don't understand how a new government will overcome all these difficulties. It will be a tough job to restore the sovereignty of Pakistan that has been battered so badly by Musharraf,' Sharif said.
Maintaining that he would not enter into a deal with Musharraf for his return to the country, he said such a deal will be 'against morality and if I cut a deal with him, then, by default, I will be giving recognition to all unlawful steps and unconstitutional actions that he has taken during the last six seven years.'
Sharif, who was ousted in a 1999 military coup, said, 'Musharraf doesn't know the art of talking to people. He always flexes his muscles. Like a wrestler he keeps carrying a Gurz (trophy) all the time. This is not the way to run the affairs of a state.'
He said Musharraf keeps claiming that the army is a disciplined force.
'Is this the discipline that they practice in the army and that they boast of? This is the height of indiscipline to subvert the Constitution and to invade and capture the prime minister's house. I think Musharraf should stop calling the army a disciplined force unless and until we put a full stop to this kind of unlawful activities.'
Sharif also charged that Musharraf wanted to hang him before sending him on exile.
'The Generals wanted to secure a death penalty for me. Despite their efforts Allah saved me.
'Despite all these attempts to break my will and to humiliate me, my commitment to the country, democracy and the rule of Constitution has increased manifold. This is my dream now and I will struggle for this,' he said.
He also denied any deal with the government when he went into exile but said he was thankful to the Saudi government that gave him all facilities including a big house to stay.
'I am a pardesi. I will go back to my country, to my people but not through a compromise. I can end my so-called exile today by striking a deal with Musharraf who has sent a number of emissaries to me... But I have chosen a tough path by staying in pardes,' Sharif said.
He said all parties, including his former rival Benazir Bhutto, whom he met recently, should unite to defeat Musharraf's government.
He also said that contrary to official claims poverty in Pakistan rose alarmingly.
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