Lahore: Terming the historic 1972 Simla agreement between India and Pakistan a "big mistake", Chief Minister of Pakistan's Punjab province Shahbaz Sharif has said it partially hurt the Kashmiris' freedom struggle.
"The Simla agreement was a big mistake [on the part of Islamabad] as it dampened the spirit of the Kashmiris fighting for their freedom and hurt their movement though it never stopped in Kashmir," Sharif told a conference on Kashmir on Thursday.
The agreement had resulted in release of some 90,000 Pakistani soldiers imprisoned by India following the 1971 war fought between the two South Asian neigbours.
Sharif's remarks drew criticism from the Pakistan People's Party whose then chairman and prime minister of the country, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and his Indian counterpart Indra Gandhi had signed the pact.
"Someone should teach the CM Punjab what foreign policy is. He can't possibly think mimicking SZAB [Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto] makes him a statesman," tweeted PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
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