Nawaz Sharif, seen as the front-runner in election race, said the country should reconsider its support for the US war on Islamist militancy and suggested that he was in favour of negotiations with the Taliban. Nawaz sharif, a conservative who is hoping to become prime minister for a third time after next Saturday's election, said the military's US-backed campaign against the Taliban was not the best way to defeat the insurgency.
"I think guns and bullets are always not the answer to such problems," he told Reuters in an interview in his black armoured car on Saturday. "I think other options need to be explored at the same time and see what is workable. And I think we're going to pursue all these other options."
Sharif wants a review of the backing provided for the US war on militancy under the previous government's approach.
"Someone will have to take this problem seriously," said Sharif, as he headed to an election campaign rally. "All stakeholders will have to sit down together and understand the concerns of all parties and then take a decision, which is in the best interest of Pakistan and the international community."
WARNS AGAINST MILITARY MEDDLING
Born into a family of wealthy industrialists, Sharif reflected on country's turbulent history, especially the army's habit of mounting coups and meddling in politics. He became sombre as he recalled how a former army chief and later president, Pervez Musharraf, toppled his government in a bloodless coup in 1999. "It was a very bad day for Pakistan," said Sharif.
Sharif said Musharraf's plight should serve as an example to other top brass who may be planning a take-over - a rare warning in a country that has been ruled by the army for more than half of its history.
Pakistan is undergoing a transition, said Sharif, who was groomed by a military dictator in the 1980s but has since become a harsh critic of military intervention in politics.
"This accountability which is now taking place is itself a lesson to all those who have any such designs in the future," he said. "Now Musharraf has come back and look at what he's going through. Everybody is seeing it on TV and reading it in the newspapers and this itself is a lesson to everybody."
Sharif believes his team is up to the challenge of reviving the near-failed economy. He said he would promote a free-market, as he did during two stints as prime minister in the 1990s.
"We are going to pick up the threads from where we left off in 1999," he said.
A major challenge for the next government, analysts say, will be implementing politically difficult economic reforms to secure another bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and avert a balance of payments crisis.
"I'm not someone who is against the IMF. But I am a man who believes that we need to stand on our own feet, that should be our priority," said Sharif. "But to work with the IMF until such time, I don't see any harm in that."
Asked what his most daunting task would be if victorious in the polls, he said: "To put the country back on the rails."
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