Kashmir issue should be resolved as per Lahore Declaration: Sharif

Lahore, Jan 30 (ANI): Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the Lahore Declaration should be the basis to resolve the Kashmir issue, hoping that the 'spirit' of 1999 agreement signed with India will be "restored sooner or later."

"Kashmir is a core issue between Pakistan and India and it needs to be resolved in the same spirit as was expressed between the then two prime ministers when Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to Pakistan and signed the Lahore Declaration," Sharif told reporters.

Sharif said other events had overtaken the spirit of the Lahore Declaration, but he remained hopeful that it would be restored sooner or later, the Daily Times reported.

When asked about the policies followed by former President Pervez Musharraf to resolve the issue, he replied: "I don't think Musharraf had any policy on Kashmir. The actions that he committed were against the spirit of the resolution of the Kashmir issue."

Senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Bhat, who led the delegation that called on Sharif at his residence in Raiwind, said there was no alternative available to India and Pakistan "other than talking and resolving the dispute on Kashmir." (ANI)