'US can count on Nawaz instead of Musharraf'

Washington, Aug 21: According to an article in Time Magazine, the US administration can build a long lasting working relationship with former Pakistan premier and PML-N Nawaz Sharif, one of the two most powerful leaders in the present day political set up in Pakistan, by investing even half of what Washington had spent over the past one year on saving former President Pervez Musharraf.

The article said that the Bush administration would have to adopt the carrot-and-stick approach in courting Nawaz Sharif, by offering him incentives in the form of development aid instead of billions of dollars it wasted on the Pakistani military in the past seven years.

"Former premier Nawaz Sharif who is 'no extremist' deserves Washington's attention......even a modicum of respect befitting an elected leader," said the commentary in the current issue of Time magazine.

It said: "If the Bush Administration invests some serious diplomatic energy on courting him - even half of the effort it has spent over the past year on trying to save Musharraf from humiliation - it can build a working relationship with Nawaz. This will require a carrot-and-stick approach. The carrots will come in the form of development aid; after wasting billions on the Pakistani military in the past seven years, the US must ensure that the majority of future aid goes to economic and civil society projects, supervised not by generals but by politicians. The US doesn't need to brandish a stick because that's already there in the form of the ever-present threat of another military takeover."

According to the widely-read international magazine, the two main figures on present Pakistan's political scene - PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif should be made to work together or at least prevented from undermining the democratic government.

ANI