Pakistan's former PM Nawaz Sharif says he was ousted in 1999 for opposing Kargil
Lahore (PTI): Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said he was ousted from the government in 1999 by (late) Gen Pervez Musharraf for opposing the Kargil misadventure, as he underlined the importance of having good relations with India and other neighbours.
The three-time prime minister questioned why he was ousted from the office of the prime minister prematurely.
"I should be told why I was ousted in 1993 and 1999. When I opposed the Kargil plan saying it should not happen... I was ousted (by Gen Pervez Musharraf). And later what I said proved right," Sharif said here while talking to the aspirants of his party tickets for upcoming polls.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader said that on all three occasions being the premier he was delivering but he was sent packing and that he did not know why.
"I want to know why I was ousted every time," he asked.
Sharif also talked about the visit of two Indian prime ministers to Pakistan only when he was the prime minister of Pakistan.
"We have delivered on every front. During my tenure as PM, two Indian prime ministers visited Pakistan. Modi sahab and Vajpayee sahab had come to Lahore," the former prime minister said, stressing improved relations with India and other neighbouring countries.
"We will have to improve our relations with India, Afghanistan, and Iran. We need to make more stronger relations with China," Sharif said.
He regretted that Pakistan lagged behind its neighbours in economic growth development.
Lashing out at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party's jailed former chairman Imran Khan, Sharif said he did not know why an inexperienced man was given the reins of the country.
"The economy witnessed a downfall during Imran Khan's government (2018-2202). Then the Shehbaz Sharif government took over in April 2022 and rescued the country from default."
Sharif reiterated his demand for accountability of former military generals and judges for ruining the country by ousting his government in 2017.
"Those who brought this country to this level should be made accountable as patriotic people can't do this to their country," he said.
On Friday, Sharif had said: "We do not want to come into power to roam around in luxury cars but we want accountability of those (who) ruined this country and made false cases against us."
A month before his return to Pakistan after four years of self-imposed exile in the UK, Sharif had hinted at bringing former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, former ISI head Lt-Gen Faiz Hamid, and former chief justices of Pakistan Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa for their crime of ousting his government and causing economic disaster.
Sharif is holding meetings daily to award party tickets for the February 8 general elections next year.
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2 Indian nationals part of crew of luxury cruise ship that reported hantavirus outbreak
London (PTI): At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.
The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, according to the report.
Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.
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The World Health Organization said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.
The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents - but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.
It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man - was taken off the vessel.
Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.
