Will be happy if Manmohan attends swearing-in: Sharif

One of his aides,however,told The Indian Express that the question had caught him off-guard,and an invitation to Singh for the swearing-in would not be a wise political move at this juncture.

Sharif was speaking to a group of foreign journalists at his farm house at Raiwind,on the outskirts of Lahore city. Recalling the then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s bus ride to Lahore in 1999,Sharif said: “I vividly remember his visit… I think that was a defining moment in Indo-Pak relationship… We have to start from where we left off in 1999.”

Asked if he would take a bus to India,he replied,“I will certainly go to India — I don’t know whether I will go on a bus though. Can I take any other ride as well?’’

National Interest: Read Shekhar Gupta’s column on Indo-Pak ties

He also expressed his wish to meet Vajpayee again. “I am a great supporter of a free visa regime between India and Pakistan. We will pick up things from where we left them in 1999,” he added.

On the 26/11 Mumbai attacks,Sharif said “we will prevent such activities… such things should never be repeated again”.

Evading a direct reply to a question on when his government would set up a probe into the Kargil conflict,as promised by him in the run-up to the polls,Sharif said: “Let the government be formed. Let the cabinet be formed. These questions will all come up.”

In an effort to reach out to Pakistan’s Army,Sharif said he did not hold anyone other than then Army chief General Pervez Musharraf responsible for the military coup in 1999 in which he was removed. “The coup was staged by one individual — General Musharraf. The rest of the Army resented Musharraf’s decision to topple a democratically- elected government. I don’t hold anyone else responsible in the Army. We will be working together,” he said.

Analysts here are reading this statement as Sharif’s olive branch to serving Army officers who had participated in the coup,to avoid any possibility of a confrontation with the armed forces. Sources here believe that present Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is not likely to seek an extension,so it is essential for Sharif’s government to ensure a smooth transition within the Army later this year.