MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 5: Pakistan Muslim League (N) chief Nawaz Sharif has praised Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto for supporting democratic forces.

“In the past, we were political rivals. Now there is no rivalry. I visited her residence for the sake of the country. Today, we are one … together we can pull Pakistan out of this crisis,” he said while addressing a large gathering outside the city campus of the AJK University on Wednesday.

He was accorded a rousing welcome all along the Kohala-Muzaffarabad road.

Mr Sharif also addressed media personnel at the residence of Muzaffarabad’s former mayor Chaudhry Manzoor.

About his conditions for participating in the coming elections, he said the most important condition was the restoration of independent judiciary, followed by restoration of the Constitution to pre-Oct 12, 1999, position, lifting of curbs on media, establishment of neutral caretaker cabinets and an independent Election Commission.

About the rejection of his nomination papers, he said it showed the government’s real intentions. “We have been saying that the election will … be rigged. The election commissioner is carrying out orders of the regime,” he claimed.

Mr Sharif said he opposed the army’s role in politics because the Constitution did not allow it.

“Pakistan had been dismembered because of a military dictatorship. Had they (military rulers) accepted the demands of (Sheikh) Mujeebur Rehman, Bangladesh would not have emerged,” he said.

Referring to the Lal Masjid operation and the situation in tribal areas, he said the ‘game’ was still being played and the people should ‘rise to stop repression’.

He said if his government had not been overthrown there would have been major progress on the Kashmir issue.

“But some Pakistani generals made a big mistake by launching the Kargil Operation,” he said, adding he would conduct a thorough inquiry after coming into power. Mr Sharif said the armed forces had failed “to rescue in time the survivors of the 2005 earthquake”.

Abid Fazil Abbasi adds from Murree: In an interview with Dawn at his Murree residence on Wednesday, Mr Sharif stressed the need for restoring genuine democracy in the country.

He warned that the policies of the present rulers were leading the country towards a revolution.