Nawaz Sharif’s speech had two bold historical & foreign policy angles. One, he regretted the framing of Mujib-ur-Rehman as a “traitor” in the 60s, saying that the label pushed Mujib towards hard separatism and contributed to the formation of Bangladesh.
Second, he spoke about Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s bus trip to Lahore in 1999 as a missed opportunity for peace; also praised the nice note that Vajpayee left in the visitor’s book at Minar-e-Pakistan.
There is no political upside to saying these things — in fact, the army might use one or both against him — but brave principled positions.
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