Pakistan's Islamist-Friendly Prime Minister

CONTINUING from where he left off in the last days of the election campaign, prime minister-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif has said all the right things about the US, India and Afghanistan in interviews with the foreign media on Monday. Calling for a reset or improvement of ties with the US, India and Afghanistan, Mr Sharif took an encouragingly pragmatic and positive line on Pakistan’s key external relationships. Even when discussing the fraught issue of US drone strikes in Fata, Mr Sharif took a measured line, refusing to be drawn into jingoistic and bellicose rhetoric while under-lining the problems the strikes have created politically inside Pakistan. It is encouraging that Nawaz Sharif the incoming prime minister is speaking in much the same way as Nawaz Sharif the candidate spoke.