Former premier Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday renewed a demand for setting up a commission to probe the Kargil "blunder", saying that he was kept in dark about the 1999 operation by the then Pakistan army chief Pervez Musharraf.
Sharif was referring to revelations by Lt Gen (retired) Jamshed Gulzar Kayani, a former aide of Musharraf, who said in an interview on Monday night that Sharif was not initially aware of the army's plan to intrude into Kargil, but on learing of it, he offered to support the operation as long as it meets success.
"I have been asking for a commission to probe the Kargil issue for a very long time. (Kayani said last night) that Kargil was a very big blunder committed by Musharraf. It was a misadventure that was a major failure," Sharif told reporters at the airport in Lahore before departing for London.
Holding Musharraf responsible for the intrusion by Pakistani troops into the Kargil sector of Jammu and Kashmir, Sharif, whose Paksitan Muslim League-Nawaz is part of the ruling coalition, said a commission should be set up to probe the episode.
Musharraf, he said, should be tried for treason for his actions over the past nine years, for overthrowing the elected government on October 12, 1999, and for imposing emergency on November 3, 2007.
Sharif said, "Dictatorship is the enemy of Pakistan and every Pakistani says there should now be accountability and Musharraf should be tried."
Sharif said he had travelled to the US to meet the then president Bill Clinton to work out modalities to end the conflict in order to protect the dignity of Pakistan's armed forces.
"I took the burden on my shoulders and I did not let anything blemish the armed forces of Pakistan," he said.
