Sharif wants to accommodate all rivals in govt

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is ready to accommodate all political forces including Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to form a coalition, a top party leader said yesterday.
Sen. Pervez Rashid said consultations were under way to form the next government. According to PML-N sources, Shahbaz Sharif is likely to be made Punjab’s chief minister again. Ishaq Dar and Ahsan Iqbal might be given the portfolios of finance and education respectively.
According to unofficial results, the PML-N has managed to grab 125 National Assembly seats that may go up to 130 when official results are announced.
The main outgoing Pakistan People’s Party appeared to have suffered a crushing defeat, going from 125 seats in the National Assembly to being neck-and-neck with Imran Khan’s PTI, which won only one seat in 2002.
Flanked by brother Shahbaz and daughter Maryam, a relaxed and satisfied Sharif gave a victory speech to jubilant supporters in Lahore.
“I appeal for all parties to come to the table and sit with me and solve the country’s problems,” Sharif said.
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday greeted Sharif on his “emphatic victory.” Singh wrote on his official Twitter account, “Congratulations to Mr. Nawaz Sharif and his party for their emphatic victory in Pakistan’s elections”.
He said he hoped to work with Sharif to chart “a new course for the relationship” between the two countries and invited him to “visit India at a mutually convenient time.”
US President Barack Obama congratulated Pakistan on its parliamentary elections and said Washington was ready to work “as equal partners” with the government that emerges.