Islamabad: A leading Pakistani newspaper Sunday asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to "reset" policies vis-a-vis India as well as other "enormously complicated" issues.
Sharif has been in office for five months, and it was time he took direct charge of issues such as militant threats, Afghanistan, India and Balochistan, the Dawn said in an editorial.
Pakistan's new army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, may take time to settle down, it said, adding the prime minister must not waste time but "examine and reset" the country's policies.
"The new army chief will possibly take longer to turn to matters of the army's approach to national security and its positions on key foreign relations.
"But Nawaz Sharif has been in office for five months now. And it is time for him to step up and truly take charge," the daily said.
"There are at least four areas in which (Nawaz) Sharif needs to examine and reset the state's policies -- domestic militant threat, Balochistan, Afghanistan and India.
"Each of those issues is enormously complicated in its own right, before the civil-military angle is even factored in."
The Dawn said that on matters related to Afghanistan and India and Balochistan, the government "is on the right track - though perhaps only to the extent of words.
"Non-interference in Afghanistan, normalisation of ties with India and a political approach to dealing with Baloch separatists are all sound policies."
But "at some point, Sharif will have to lead from the front", Dawn said.
