NEW YORK, Sept 28: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has emphasised the need for peace in the South Asian region, saying that all will benefit if India and Pakistan were to improve their ties.

“We should stop interfering in India’s internal affairs and they should stop interfering in our internal affairs,” he told a gathering of Pakistani-Americans. “If there’s peace in the region, everybody will benefit.”

The prime minister recalled that when he was ousted in a military coup in 1999, he was pursuing peace with India.

“What wrong was I doing? Everybody would have benefited with peace and better relations between India and Pakistan,” he said.

In an interview to an Indian television channel, Mr Sharif said that during his meeting with the Indian prime minister on Sunday he would renew his invitation to Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan.

He said Mr Singh had invited him to visit his country and “I will be very happy to visit India”.

In his address to the Pakistanis, Mr Sharif underlined his desire for working towards peace and a policy of non-interference with both India and Afghanistan.

“It is only then that the long-term peace and stability in the region can be achieved,” he said, adding that there was a need to bring down the defence expenditure.

Mr Sharif said he believed if there was peace in Afghanistan and India, there would be peace in Pakistan too.

Mr Sharif also outlined the hardships he and his party had to endure in their struggle for democracy.

“Every Pakistani should be proud of the unprecedented transfer of democratic power that has recently taken place in Pakistan,” he said.