Islamabad: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said yesterday he would not mind a further delay of polls for the sake of formation of a national consensus government to hold free and fair general election.
Addressing a news conference in Punjab province capital Lahore, he said a neutral consensus government must be formed in consultation with political parties and that President Pervez Musharraf should step down.
"It does not matter much if the elections now scheduled for February 18 are delayed by two or three weeks for formation of a national consensus government minus Musharraf," he said.
Sharif also called for an independent election commission and appointment of a new chief election commissioner, suggesting name of deposed Supreme Court judge Rana Bhagwandas for the post.
The Pakistan Muslim League-N leader said his proposals if implemented would resolve "95 per cent of the problems" the country was currently facing.
"That is the only way to end the crisis."
Sharif said his party would participate in the election even if his demand for a neutral government was not accepted.
Existing setup rejected
But a vote under the existing setup would not help overcome the chaos, he warned.
He said the present caretaker government set up by Musharraf was merely an extension of former PML(Q) government.
Almost all political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party of slain leader Benazir Bhutto, had rejected the interim setup because it was not neutral, Sharif said.
To a question about external concerns regarding security of Pakistan's nuclear assets he said, "They need not to worry about it."
"Pakistan has very effective command and control system which was developed when I was prime minister," he said.
Stability stressed
Sharif, who has often boasted that Pakistan conducted nuclear weapons tests under his premiership despite intense international pressure not to do so, said the country must achieve stability.
"When there is chaos and uncertainty, other countries get an opportunity to question security of Pakistan's nuclear assets," he said.
Sharif said he was not satisfied with the security provided to him by the government. The government claims to have provided me a bullet proof vehicle, but I have not received it as yet."
He rejected Musharraf's claim that his policies had been very successful and the next government would continue the same.
The opposition leader alleged that people had got nothing except terrorism, bomb explosions, violence, flour and power crisis, hunger and poverty during Musharraf's rule.
