LAHORE: During a meeting with former US ambassador Anne Patterson in January, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif confirmed he was ready to work with the PPP in a post-election coalition government and described this union as “the best thing that could happen in Pakistan”. He dismissed reports of threats against his life as attempts by the government to dissuade him from campaigning. Noting that emotions remain high in Sindh, he predicted violence if the election was seen as being rigged for Musharraf’s party. According to The Guardian’s reports on the WikiLeaks cables, the PML-N had reached out to the PPP, and time would tell what alliances could be built. They could also work together in the provincial government of Sindh or Punjab. He predicted that the PPP could win enough seats to rule in Sindh with or without the MQM. Claiming he had no vendetta against Musharraf, Nawaz said the PML-N had also reached out to the PML-Q and they in turn had contacted PML-N. The PML-N’s goal in the government would be to reinstate the sacked judges and restore the law and order situation. Without restoring the judiciary, Nawaz argued, you cannot restore law and order and rule of law. Patterson noted the reports about threats to Nawaz’s security and said “we were pleased to have briefed his staff on measures that could be taken to enhance his safety”. Nawaz responded that the government had said he is “number one on the hit list” of the terrorists, but he was not convinced. Citing the belief that an IED planted on the road he was to travel to a rally in Peshawar lacked a detonator, Nawaz insisted that he had received information from credible sources that the device had been planted by security services to go off hours after the rally. Also, Nawaz, as proof of his pro-Americanism, reminded her that he had overruled his chief of staff to deploy Pakistani forces with the US coalition in the first Gulf War.