Pakistan's deposed premier Nawaz Sharif hailed the "beauty of Indian democracy," referring to the recent national elections, and called Congress president Sonia Gandhi's rejection of the prime minister's job a "master stroke".
"I really admire the beauty of Indian democracy," Sharif told The Indian Express newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.
"One prime minister is voted out and he quietly leaves without a fuss while another moves into the house. You have a Muslim President and a Sikh Prime Minister.... You should be proud of your democracy."
He was referring to the polls last month that saw the opposition Congress-led alliance score an upset win over the Hindu nationalist-led government led by former premier Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Former finance minister Manmohan Singh, a member of mainly Hindu India's Sikh minority, was named prime minister after Italian-born Gandhi, 57, refused to accept the post despite pressure from supporters after she led Congress to victory.
'MASTER STROKE': Sharif, exiled in Saudi Arabia after being deposed by Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf in a 1999 coup, said Gandhi's rejection of the prime minister's post was a "master stroke".
"She has paved the way for her children - either Priyanka or Rahul - to one day become prime minister," he said, referring to the scions of India's famed Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, which has given India three prime ministers.
Analysts say Gandhi, widow of slain former premier Rajiv Gandhi, silenced attacks on her foreign origins the previous Hindu nationalist government said made her unsuited to lead India. She ascribed her decision to an "inner voice".
Sharif also said he recalled his "old friend Atal Behari Vajpayee" as a "sincere and good man.... We shared a genuine rapport. I want to tell you Vajpayee and I had planned 1999 as a year of peace. But it was not to be."
He and Vajpayee met in Lahore in 1999. They signed a set of confidence-building measures and pledged to resolve the dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, trigger of two of three wars between the nuclear rivals.
Sharif said had he not been deposed, "we would have solved everything. Vajpayee and I would have resolved Kashmir."
He said he now spends his time reading or watching old Hindi movies.
"I like the black and white ones best. The new Bollywood ones are terribly vulgar."