- Sunday, April 20, 2025
Sharif returned as the premier for the second time after his 2022-23 stint following an election marred by violence and delay.
By: Shubham Ghosh
NOT all his followers were happy after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi congratulated his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday (5) for becoming the premier for the second time.
In a rare expression of goodwill which is seen between the leaders of the two nuclear-armed regional rivals that have fought more than one war since becoming independent in 1947, Modi posted on X saying, “Congratulations to @CMShehbaz on being sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.”
Sharif, who served as the prime minister between April 2022 and August 2023, was officially sworn as the PM on Monday (4) following an election marred by claims of widespread vote rigging.
The 72-year-old’s army-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-L) has formed a coalition government with their historic rival — the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and several smaller factions that kept out loyalists of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, candidates backed by whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf won the most seats.
While India and Pakistan are bitter adversaries with longstanding political tensions, Sharif is seen in India as more conciliatory toward New Delhi than his predecessor Khan.
Unusually for a senior Pakistani politician, Sharif visited India in 2013 when he was chief minister of Pakistan’s influential Punjab province.
He visited his family’s ancestral village on the Indian side of the border and met with then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, along with other officials.
Modi also made a surprise visit to a wedding in the Sharif family during a surprise trip to Pakistan in 2015, a year after taking office.
He was hosted by Sharif’s elder brother Nawaz, who has served as the prime minister of Pakistan thrice. He was also present at the inauguration of Modi as the prime minister in New Delhi in 2014.
Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, however, had no in-person bilateral meeting since relations between the two neighbours have plummeted since the Modi government repealed Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave the province of Kashmir, which is also claimed by Pakistan, a special status.
However, many followers of Modi expressed dismay over him wishing Sharif.
One user wrote in reply to Modi’s post, “Aapse better umeed kiye the sir ji ?Why was it necessary? (we had better expectations from you sir, why was it necessary)”
Another wrote, “You wasted your time by writing these”
There were also many from Pakistan who refused to acknowledge Sharif as a legitimate prime minister accusing him of stealing the popular mandate. Some others hoped for relations between the two nations to improve after Sharif’s return to power.
(With AFP inputs)
