Former premier Nawaz Sharif today said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that Pakistan should "leave Kashmir alone" could harm peace talks between the two countries.
"This is not a political statement. Such statements complicate matters. The Indian prime minister should not have made such a statement and there was no need for it," Sharif, the chief of the main opposition PML-N, said during an interaction with reporters.
Such a statement could create a hurdle in the reconciliation process between the two countries, he said in response to a question about Singh's remarks.
During a recent meeting with editors, Singh had said he hoped that "Pakistan will leave Kashmir alone, because they have their own share of internal problems".
Sharif was earlier criticised by his detractors for saying that Pakistan should stop considering India its enemy.
He had also claimed that former Indian premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee and he had worked on modalities to resolve the Kashmir issue in 1999.
During today's interaction with reporters, Sharif announced that the PML-N would make all efforts to form a "grand alliance" to oust the Pakistan People's Party-led government at the centre.
"We welcome the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to the opposition and will form a grand alliance to get rid of this government," he said.
He asked the PPP-led government to stop misleading the people on US drone attacks.
"The US drones fly from our airbases and target our people," he said.
He said the government should come clean on the issue of drone attacks instead of publicly condemning them while tacitly allowing the US to carry on with its spy plane campaign.
