ISLAMABAD

Nawaz Sharif, seen as the front-runner inPakistan’s election race, said he would not allow militant groups to attack rivalIndiafrom his country and would work to improve ties withNew Delhiif elected.

“If I become the prime minister I will make sure that the Pakistani soil is not used for any such designs againstIndia,” Sharif told CNN-IBN in an interview.

Despite recent strains,IndiaandPakistan’s relations have improved after nose-diving in 2008 when gunmen killed 166 people in the Indian city ofMumbaiin a three-day rampage thatIndiablamed on a Pakistani militant group.

Nawaz Sharif, who was prime minister twice in the 1990s, said it was time to improve ties betweenNew DelhiandIslamabad.

“We have issues of course which need to be resolved and I think I can quote you a lot of examples where rivals or people opposed to each other, countries opposed to each other have resolved much difficult problems than we have,” he said.

Sharif said he would call for a joint investigation of whether Pakistani intelligence agencies played any role in the Mumbai attack. “I will take up this matter. Certainly this matter will have to be taken up,” said Sharif.

Nawaz said if elected prime minister again he would set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the Kargil adventure by former army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf.

He said he wanted to take relations withIndiato the high trajectory of February 1999 when he signed theLahoreaccord with the then Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Staff Reporter fromLahoreadds: PML-N President Nawaz Sharif has said that if comes into power, the PML-government would ensure the implementation of Water Apportionment Treaty of 1991.

Talking to various delegations inLahoreon Wednesday, he said that his government would restructure Irsa in order to ensure equal distribution of water among the provinces apart from ameliorating the canal system so that water theft could be checked. Nawaz said that no dam would be constructed without evolving consensus among stakeholders and efforts would be made for the earliest resolution of the water royalty and the issue of water limits among provinces by the Council of Common Interest.

He said thatPakistanwas an agricultural country and abundant supply of water for the crop was vital to boost the economy. He said the PML-N was committed to ensure water supply to farmers in every part of the country.