ISLAMABAD, April 23: The Pakistan Muslim League (N) is working in cooperation with its ARD allies to forge a new ‘political contract’.

According to a press release issued by the PML (N) office here on Sunday, this was stated by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif while responding to media’s questions about his scheduled meeting with PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto. Mr Sharif said that the new political contract, to be based on mutual respect, would aim at strengthening democratic and national institutions, stopping military interference in politics and restoring people’s right of self-governance through fair, free and transparent elections to be held under a neutral set-up and an independent election commission with effective powers.

He said: “The Charter of Democracy envisages to establish supremacy of the 1973 Constitution so that rule of law can be established on strong foundations.”

He said that military’s domination of national politics since 1958 had destroyed the foundations of institutional governance in the country and people had lost faith in the judicial institutions as custodian of the rule of law in the country.

He stressed the need for democratic forces which believed in restoring the supremacy of the 1973 Constitution to join hands and struggle for people’s fundamental right of self-governance through fair and free elections.

Mr Sharif said that over the past six years the society had become ridden with conflicts and tensions among different regions and sections of society were growing. “Without social harmony there is no political stability and without political stability, the dream of economic prosperity remains elusive,” he added.

In response to a question about performance of the PML-N government, he said: “PML-N’s economic policies laid foundations for a strong and prosperous Pakistan. In our first tenure we introduced a paradigm shift in economic management by opening up the economy and by initiating welfare schemes. Projects initiated by our two governments are still the flagship projects for Pakistan.”