"Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can’t we complete the trial?”, he said in a reference to the Mumbai attacks-related trials which have stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.
Sharif's comments assume significance as Pakistan has been firmly denying India's allegation that state actors were involved.
India has accused Lashkar founder and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed of masterminding the Mumbai attacks. The United States has offered a $10 million reward for information of Saeed who has forayed into national politics.
Meanwhile, the political future of Sharif, who leads the country's most powerful political family and the ruling PML-N party, has been hanging precariously since his ouster as prime minister. If convicted, he can be jailed.