adminSingh wrote on his official Twitter account, “Congratulations to Mr. Nawaz Sharif and his party for their emphatic victory in Pakistan’s elections”.
He said he hoped to work with Sharif to chart “a new course for the relationship” between the nuclear-armed neighbours and invited him to “visit India at a mutually convenient time”.
Singh also congratulated “the people and the political parties of Pakistan for braving the threats of violence and voting in large numbers” in Saturday’s election.
The Pakistani Taliban had declared the polls unIslamic and attacked candidates and rallies.
Partial unofficial results from the election represented a stunning comeback for Sharif, a wealthy 63-year-old tycoon who was deposed as prime minister in a 1999 military coup and spent years in exile.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir. Each administers part of the territory but claims it in full.
They also clashed in 1999, in a limited conflict known as the Kargil war, which broke out when Sharif was prime minister.
Relations between the two countries have been fractious in recent weeks, with both sides protesting at the deaths of prisoners held by the other’s government.
A Pakistani prisoner died after being beaten up in an Indian jail last week in an apparent tit-for-tat assault, following the death of an Indian prisoner in Pakistan the week before.
Meanwhile, Pakistani politician Imran Khan yesterday welcomed the high turnout in the country’s elections as a step forward for democracy, but said his party would submit a report on alleged vote-rigging.
His first public remarks, made in a televised statement, came 17 hours after his main rival, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, declared victory. Khan had vowed that the polls would sweep his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) into power.
“I congratulate the entire nation for taking part in such a massive democratic process. We are moving forward on the path of democracy,” the former cricket star said, speaking from the hospital bed where he is laid up with a fractured spine.
Khan, who fell from a hoist raising him to the stage at an election rally in Lahore last Tuesday, electrified much of the campaign with his calls for reform and galvanised many young people to take part for the first time.
“Even those people who never voted in their life came out and the entire nation is happy to see it. Now there is awareness among the people of Pakistan that their fate is in their hands,” he said.
Khan’s PTI is projected to win more than 30 seats and become the second largest party in the new assembly, a remarkable achievement given that it only won one seat previously, in 2002.
In reference to allegations of vote-rigging made by members of his party, Khan said: “God willing, we will issue a white paper”. But while PTI’s showing was far short of the victory for which he campaigned, he spoke of satisfaction about the participation of young people and women. Female turnout is traditionally low in conservative regions.
“There is usually victory and defeat, but all the pain of this defeat evaporated after I saw enthusiasm in youth,” he said.
“I also thank our women. Never in the history of Pakistan have women come out and voted in such a big number. It is heartening to see that they have also contributed to efforts to make a new Pakistan,” said Khan. — AFP.
Online Reporter