NAWAZ SHARIF, the main Pakistani opposition leader, would consider joining a national unity government with President Asif Ali Zardari, according to a senior leader from his Pakistan Muslim League party.
The senior politician said Mr Sharif wanted to assure foreign powers, including the US, that he had no intention of trying to destabilise the year-old elected government of Pakistan.
“Depending on the circumstances ahead, it looks a bit hard to predict,” said the politician. “[But] for the sake of Pakistan’s best interests, if there is a national unity government, Mr Sharif will consider supporting it as long as it’s in Pakistan’s interest.”
Signs that Mr Sharif is attempting to assuage concerns of the US and other countries with a stake in the stability of Pakistan come ahead of a meeting in Washington tomorrow when Mr Zardari will meet US president Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president.
It also comes as the Pakistani government faces a growing threat from Islamic extremists. Over the past month, the Obama administration has grown extremely concerned about the Taliban, who are expanding their reach beyond the lawless tribal border areas and moving closer to Islamabad.
There have been increasing fears over the past week about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs who recently returned from the region, yesterday said the possibility that terrorists could seize a Pakistani nuclear weapon remained a “strategic concern”, while stressing that there was no imminent threat of that outcome.
“We . . . have invested very significantly over the last three years to work with them [the Pakistanis] to improve that security. And we’re satisfied, very satisfied, with that progress,” said Admiral Mullen.
While Mr Sharif recently promised publicly that he would not destabilise the government, analysts said his private messages to foreign powers were more significant.
These messages underline the changing perception foreign governments have of Mr Sharif, who was once seen as a protege of the Saudi royal family who took him into exile after he was ousted in a 1999 military coup.
“Rather than being seen as Saudi-sponsored, Nawaz Sharif is making himself look like he can do business with the rest of the world,” said a senior western diplomat.
In March, Mr Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz (PML-N), joined a lawyers’ campaign that eventually forced Mr Zardari to restore Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary as chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Mr Sharif’s success in forcing the decision appeared to be a defining moment in his political comeback.
Mr Sharif’s critics say his conciliatory signals are merely an attempt to win greater acceptance in world capitals, rather than a genuine step forward for democracy in Pakistan.
In the past while serving as prime minister, he has been accused of being sympathetic to hardline Islamic groups and refusing to block an attack on the Supreme Court building by PML-N supporters.
Meanwhile, Taliban fighters yesterday appeared to be gearing up for a possible fight in the northern Swat valley, in spite of government attempts to meet their demands.
At the weekend, the regional government in the North-West Frontier Province said it was fulfilling its side of a peace deal by setting up an Islamic Sharia appellate court for the area, in line with a demand by Taliban militants in the Swat valley.
The government said the Taliban should lay down arms in response. So far the Taliban have refused to comply with the demands.
In the Buner valley yesterday, 100km northwest of Islamabad, security forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery attacked militants in three hamlets, residents and security officials said. – (Copyright The Financial TimesLimited 2009)