Sharif family has business interests in India, claims former envoy

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Wednesday claimed that the Sharif family had business interests in India as Suleman Shehbaz used to occasionally call him to grant visas to different personalities from the neighbouring country, ARY NEWS reported.

“Suleman Shahbaz called me at least once in a month to grant visas to Indian personalities,” he said adding that even at some time they had to issue visas on an emergency basis within two days.

Making the startling revelations in a video statement, the former high commissioner said that some of the measures taken by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were not in the national interest and they would continue to hurt the country in future.

Mentioning some of those decisions, Abdul Basit said that an FIR registered in Gujranwala over attack on Indian Air Force in Pathankot was an inappropriate decision. It was registered on the wishes of the Indian authorities, he claimed and added that the former prime minister had a desire to improve his personal relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He further claimed that Nawaz Sharif wanted investments from Indian business tycoon Sajjan Jindal in the country’s coal sector. 

“I always opposed Nawaz Sharif’s policy on Kashmir and continued to implement the state policy of maintaining ties with the Hurriyat Conference leadership in occupied territory,” he said.

The revelations came four days after the former Foreign Office’s spokesperson Tasneem Aslam revealed that they had been instructed not to deliver statements against India during the tenure of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. 

The former FO spokesperson Tasneem Aslam made some revelations during an interview to a private news channel, saying Sharif family was in support of India. Aslam said she thought business purposes were the reason to favour India by Sharif family.