After Shehbaz Sharif calls for 'peace with India', Pakistan's U-turn: key points

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made the statements in a recent interview. (File photo)

Pakistan has learnt its "lesson" after three wars with India and now wants "peace with India", Shehbaz Sharif, the neighbouring country’s Prime Minister said in an interview. "We have learnt our lesson, and we want to live in peace with India, provided we are able to resolve our genuine problems," he said in an interview with Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV. The interview has stirred up a controversy in Pakistan, with the Prime Minister’s Office issuing a clarification.

• "We have had three wars with India, and they have only brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people."
• "My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let's sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning points like Kashmir.”
• "India is our neighbour country, we are neighbours. Let's be very blunt, even if we are not neighbours by choice we are there for ever.
• “It is up to us for us to live peacefully and progress or quarrel with each other and waste time and resources. That is up to us”

Soon after the interview aired, Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office tweeted a statement backtracking what Shehbaz Sharif said.

“The prime minister has repeatedly stated on record that talks can only take place after” India has reversed its decision to end special status to Kashmir,” Sharif’s office tweeted. “Without India’s revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible.”

Pakistan, which is battling severe economic crisis, public discontent against the ruling regime due to flour, wheat crisis and fuel shortage among others is also faced with rising instances of terror attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which had ended a ceasefire with the country's security forces late last year.