Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s remarks were likely aimed at capitalizing on popular anger at the army following the US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden last month. They could open up a new, unpredictable faultline between a popular politician and the army, which has ruled Pakistan for much of its 64-year history.

National elections are scheduled for 2013, and many analysts say Sharif’s party is likely to emerge the winner. Other parties, including the ruling Pakistan’s Peoples Party of President Asif Ali Zardari, have avoided directly criticizing the army.

The army has long been accused of running a state within a state. It dictates defense and foreign policy, and is still suspected of sponsoring militant groups to fight in India and Afghanistan, much to the anger of the West and reformers in Pakistan.

Sharif’s comments to reporters were made at a public memorial for investigative journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, who was killed on May 30 after telling a human rights activist that he had been threatened by intelligence agents. The army-run intelligence agencies have denied killing him.

In comments broadcast live on television, Sharif said the army should stop its “dominance of Pakistan’s foreign policy” and accused it of running a “parallel government.”

The army has been on the defensive since May 2, when US helicopters flew into Pakistan undetected and killed Bin Laden in a garrison town close to the capital.