In an interview at his Lahore residence on the eve of the visit of the US delegation led by Strobe Talbott, Sharif made his impatience with the current three-way nuclear talks quite clear. ``India doesn't want third-party intervention in Kashmir, so why a third party role on the nuclear issue? Or else, let's have third party in Kashmir as well,'' he said.But willy nilly, he said, the third party (obviously Washington, though he did not name it) has already acquired a role. ``They ask you things and they ask us the same things. Why must it go on like this?'' he asked. ``Why can't we talk directly? Why do we have to go onapproaching each other via Bhatinda?'' he said, using a common Punjabi metaphor to describe a silly, muddled approach to an issue.

While South Block sources confirm that Nawaz Sharif had once vaguely hinted at this approach during his failed talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Colombo this is the first time he has articulated this offer clearly, and on the record.

If Vajpayee responded positively on this, Sharif said, he will be more than willing ``to take the initiative.'' He also said he will be happy to raise the level of the discussions in consultations with Vajpayee. ``It is time the political leadership moved in and set a road map on all this. Then the officials can follow up in a time-bound manner.'' It is evident that he is suggesting that the neighbours also initiate a process like the Jaswant Singh-Talbott talks.

``I would say, let us discuss the nuclear issue, the missile issue, also the issue of conventional weapons. We can finalise treaties and agreements that will reducethreats and fears. Let's talk about an approach to CTBT and FMCT,'' he said. ``The (nuclear) threat,'' he said, ``is all here. So why not resolve the issue between ourselves?''

``I interact with the officials a lot. I understand their point,'' he said, but complained that he gets ``impatient'' when he sees no movement. The problem with officials, he says, is that they get deadlocked ``even over a comma or a full stop or over which word should come before the other.'' This, he says, slows things down, ``Ajeeb maamla hai (It is a silly state of affairs).''

Sharif says while it is good that a few things, like the cricket tour and the Delhi-Lahore bus have come through, the pace of this process is far too slow. ``We should do in five months what we can do in five years. We should aim to settle at least 50 per cent of our problems by year 2000.''

``There has to be a departure from status quo. What 50 years of status quo has given us, we can all see with our eyes,'' he said, delicately answering a question onwhether it was possible for either side to move from frozen positions on Kashmir. ``Let's approach this with an open mind. Why can't a solution then be found?'' he asked. He did, however, state repeatedly that Kashmir is a key issue. ``It is a major issue and if there is no progress on it, it will not serve the ends of normalisation.''

Sharif underlined his evolving equation with Vajpayee who he repeatedly described as ``a good man, ek behad sharif insaan (an extremely decent man)'' and said that the two of them converse on the phone often. ``I firmly believe that Mr Vajpayee has the same views on our relationship as I do. That is why people on both sides now expect progress,'' he said.

Sharif asserted that in both countries, a popular constituency for hostility did not exist any longer. ``I have never made any hostile reference to India in my election campaigns and I have seen the hunger among our people to normalise relations. In fact, today you will get more votes for normalisation than forconfrontation,'' he said. That's why, he said, time had now come to stop the ``uncivilised approach of beating up diplomats or backing subversion.'' ``Ye maar dengey, marwa dengey kee politics ka zamana ab nahin hai, waqt badal gaya hai (we will kill, or get you killed cannot be the language of today's politics. Times have changed),'' he said.

``There is an opportunity now,'' he said, ``because people trust me.'' And this ``window of opportunity'' should not be missed, he said.