PESHAWAR, June 4: The former chief minister of NWFP, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, who was released here from central jail, Peshawar, on Tuesday, has called for a dialogue between the government and political parties to fight uncertainty in the country.

Addressing party-workers outside central jail, Sherpao said: “The country’s interests should come first. He urged the politicians to focus on national issue and not on petty differences.”

A single bench of Peshawar High Court on Monday allowed bail to Sherpao in the Ring Road Peshawar land acquisition scandal. District Nazims of Nowshera and Tank, district Naib Nazim of Charsadda and party workers thronged the jail’s main gate.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had arrested Sherpao on his return from Britain on Jan 6, 2002. He was acquitted in two of the accountability cases pending against him and his three years’ sentence in absentia was also set aside by the court. The only case pending against him is the Ring Road land acquisition scam in which he was granted bail.

“I salute the party workers who struggled for my release,” the former chief minister said to the enthusiastic crowd shouting slogans such as “prime minister Aftab Sherpao”.

Sherpao, who heads his faction of the PPP, said that after winning the legal battle, he would start work on his political agenda to bring people on a common platform.

All previous chapters had been closed, he said, adding that he would work to open a new chapter in the country’s politics. He said that his party would continue to struggle for the restoration of democracy, the general elections, and country’s security.

He urged the government to be pragmatic and create a democratic atmosphere in the country.

The political parties, he said, should also start working in the larger interest of the country. He cautioned that Pakistan was passing through a critical phase and urged the people to stand united in the face of present crises.

Referring to the situation on the eastern border, Sherpao said that India seemed all set to attack Pakistan. Holding the Indian government responsible for the escalation of tension along the Line of Control, he said, Pakistan has always worked for peace and stability in the region.

He urged the Afghan interim government to release Pakistanis detained in Afghanistan.