Nawaz Sharif and NRO

In the hearing on NRO cases, NAB admitted that it had spent over PKR 2 billion on investigations against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari. Despite spending this hefty amount, nothing could be proved against the two. In this series, I am trying to highlight the allegations on Right-wing politicians, bureaucrats, army officials and media personnel. For the sake of justice, I want these allegations to be thoroughly investigated with an equivalent inflation adjusted amount spent and brought to logical conclusion. In the spirit of investigation against BB and AZ, I would suggest that the fairness demands that the prosecution team for these allegations be chosen by PPP leadership to have a level playing field.
Nawaz Sharif:
Here is a list of allegations of corruption against Nawaz Sharif – in a five clip series.




















Nawaz Sharif had two convictions against him, one is a case of hijacking and treason and the other of corruption in purchase of a helicopter. He had a number of corruption cases pending against him and many inquiries under way. As a result of the presidential pardon given in response to written request by Nawaz Sharif and other family members, the inquiries were stopped, all cases were dropped and sentences were removed as a result of a presidential pardon.

Nawaz Sharif Presidential Pardon

Nawaz Sharif himself acknowledged the deal (worse than any NRO) – Express Link. The guarantors intervened to force Nawaz Sharif to stick to the deal till Benazir Bhutto and NRO paved way for his return (Dawn Link).
Ironically, without probing into the detail of the allegations, investigations dropped and convictions, Supreme Court in a haste set aside all allegations against Nawaz Sharif. Unlike NRO, it did not question non-probing of Federal and Provincial Govts. on political grounds.
Another shameful allegation against Mr. Sharif is his involvement in attack on Supreme Court.
Mr. Sharif and his cronies say that Musharraf could not find anything against him in his 9 years. It’s a blatant lie because under Mr. Sharif’s exclusive NRO (known as Jeddah deal for Sharif’s of Jeddah) Musharraf dropped all allegations, cases and investigations against him and his family and they were never opened during his tenure. Nation needs a thorough investigation into these allegations on the lines of allegations against Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Zardari and trial of all cases against him under international observers.
His foreign business interests and assets should also be probed much the same way as has been done against President Zardari. It’s a fair demand and I invite you all to support me on this.

Nawaz Sharif's Friendship With Osama bin Laden

In 1995, a former ISI official told reporters that he had arranged meetings between Nawaz Sharif and Osama bin Laden. Nawaz Sharif was allegedly looking to bin Laden to help fund his 1988 campaign for Prime Minister, and was willing to say anything to get it.

“Nawaz Sharif insisted that I arrange a direct meeting with the Osama, which I did in Saudi Arabia. Nawaz met thrice with Osama in Saudi Arabia. The most historic was the meeting in the Green Palace Hotel in Medina between Nawaz Sharif, Osama and myself. Osama asked Nawaz to devote himself to “jihad in Kashmir”. Nawaz immediately said, ‘I love jihad.’ Osama smiled, and then stood up from his chair and went to a nearby pillar and said, ‘Yes, you may love jihad, but your love for jihad is this much.’ He then pointed to a small portion of the pillar. ‘Your love for children is this much,’ he said, pointing to a larger portion of the pillar. ‘And your love for your parents is this much,’ he continued, pointing towards the largest portion. ‘I agree that you love jihad, but this love is the smallest in proportion to your other affections in life.’”

Nawaz Sharif and Osama bin Laden's friendship - Responsible for rise of militantism in Pakistan?

This wasn’t the last we heard of Nawaz Sharif’s friendship with Osama bin Laden. In 2007, ABC News reported that Sharif took bribes from bin Laden to look the other way as militants carried out their plans in Pakistan.

Cloonan says that back in 1999 Mohamed told the FBI he arranged for a meeting between bin Laden and Sharif’s representatives. Following that meeting, Mohamed told Cloonan he delivered $1 million to Sharif’s representatives. Mohamed said the payoff was a tribute to Sharif for not cracking down on the Taliban as it flourished in Afghanistan and influenced the Northwest Frontier Province in Pakistan, according to Cloonan.

New evidence has surfaced, though, that suggests those meetings were merely the beginning of a long relationship between Nawaz Sharif and Osama bin Laden.

Nawaz Sharif, a two-time former prime minister of Pakistan and current head of one of the country’s major political parties, has met with Osama bin Laden on numerous occasions, and it was in fact the al Qaeda leader who developed the relationship between Sharif and the Saudi royal family, says a former Pakistani intelligence official.

BBC: Nawaz Sharif to Face New Murder Charges

BBC reports today that Pakistan’s Supreme Court is preparing to try PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif on fresh charges of murder.

Pakistan’s Supreme court is set to hear petitions seeking the prosecution of the main opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, for murder.
According to documents obtained by the BBC, the court will hear the accusations against Mr Sharif and then decide whether to pursue the charges.
The petitions call for Mr Sharif’s arrest and prosecution.

Click here to read the full article.

Supreme Court to inquire into Sharif bribe claims

By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has signalled it will begin inquiring into allegations about a historic deal spearheaded by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a bid to protect his office in 1993. The appellate bench of the court will set a date soon for the hearing which will hear claims that Sharif paid seven MPs from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near the border of Afghanistan.
The hearing now depends on the Chief Justice of Pakistan and court staff to determine when the case will be heard.
“This is the story of a gambler (Nawaz Sharif) who when he lost the game refused to pay and fled,” said Shahid Orakzai, the petitioner, who filed this case in 1997 against the former premier.
According to the petition, the case focuses on the ‘horse trading’ of seven MPs who were allegedly bribed to help Sharif form a majority for Pakistan Muslim League in October 1993 for the election of national assembly speaker which finally set the stage for the election of the leader of the house.
Sharif allegedly used Shahid Orakzai as a liaison to approach the MPs from the tribal areas and agreed to pay each of them 2.5 million Pakistani rupees (30,000 dollars) for their support.
However, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz failed to secure a majority and its rival Pakistan Peoples Party formed a majority in the parliament.
Sharif has been accused of seeking to delay the payment and later refusing to pay a portion of the funds to the MPs who cast their vote in his favour.
Former ISI official retired squadron leader Khalid Khawaja has also filed an affidavit in the court confirming that the transactions took place with the MPs through Shahid Orakzai.
The case is widely seen as a litmus test for the credibility of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Shahid Orakzai told Adnkronos International in Islamabad.
Many will be watching to see whether he fixes an early date for the case, or like previous court orders refuses to hear the case or delay it to protect Sharif.
Sharif first became prime minister in 1990 but his government was sacked in April 1993, when president Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the National Assembly on charges of corruption, nepotism, and extrajudicial killings.
Six weeks later, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that the presidential order was unconstitutional, reconstituting the National Assembly and returning Sharif to power on May 26.
The army stepped in asking Sharif to resign and he and the president were forced from office in July 1993.
In July 2009 Pakistan’s Supreme Court acquitted Sharif of hijacking charges, removing the final ban on him running for public office.
Sharif was found guilty of hijacking then army chief general Pervez Musharraf’s plane in 1999, when he ordered it to be diverted.

As Gojra burned…Where was Nawaz Sharif?

Sharif Controlled Sugar Mill Responsible For Sugar Crisis

Dawn reports that the Sharif family’s Brother Sugar Mill appears to be responsible for the sugar crisis and hoarding.

The government disclosed on Friday the names of three big sugar mills and said they were responsible for the current crisis and hoarding of the commodity.The mills are Tandliawala Sugar Mills, Brother Sugar Mills and Kashmir Sugar Mills. According to the statement, the mills have held back 240,000 tons of the government-purchased sugar, creating an artificial shortage in the market.

The News reports that Nawaz Sharif’s sugar mill has stock of over 10,000 tons while sugar prices have reached all-time high of Rs 55-60 per kg.
Additional reporting shows that the Sharif family’s Chaudhry sugar mill has also been implicated in hoarding.

According to our Toba Tek Singh correspondent, the district administration on Friday took control of the stocks of Kamalia and Chaudhry sugar mills.
Kamalia Sugar Mills is owned by former senator Farooq Ahmad Khan and Chaudhry Sugar Mills by Nawaz Sharif family.
An official said Kamalia Sugar Mills’ stock of 625,000 bags (50kg each) would be sufficient to meet the needs of the district for four months.
He said citizens would get the commodity at reduced price of Rs40 per kilo from selected stores and utility stores.
He said the stock of Chaudhry Sugar Mills would be supplied to Okara district.

The Not So “Sharif” Brothers

The Great Gama Pahalwan is a legend both in India and Pakistan. Born at Amritsar in a Kashmiri family of wrestler he is regarded as the greatest wrestler of all times. Majority of his sons, grand sons and great grandsons were also related to the professions. Gama Phelwan belonged to an extended tribe of Butts, living in a close family circle. The pehalwans were the real money earners while the rest lived off the side-businesses of wrestling, such as catering, bakery, match organization and so forth. Right after Independence the “Pahalwan Tribe” was one of the first to arrive in Lahore, thus they had ample time to grab prime locations in Lahore. They choose Mohni Road and settled there turning the then posh area into a “protected area” where any and everything had to be licensed by the extended family members of the Gama Pehlwan – even though the aging wrestler and his immediate family only concentrated on wrestling – the extended family members started their ragtag “badmashi” in their names. 

Life continued until the eventful year of 1976. Defeat of Akram Bholu by Antonio Inoki in 1976 and the controversial draw between Zubair Jhara and Antonio Inoki in 1979 was an eye opener for the entire extended clan. Wrestling was dead as a profession and the entire extended family which was living on the sub-professions of wrestling such as catering, keeping the “badmash” out of their areas suddenly found that they couldn’t live off the scraps any more. They quickly started looking in other directions for immediate alternatives.

This was the time when the world as a whole and Pakistan especially was going through radical political and economic changes. The political government had just been thrown out of office by a military dictator and a flood gates of heroin money had been opened.

Many of the Pahalwan’s extended clan members were already involved in local gambling dens, being the owners and monitors (for being the relatives of great Pahalwan family). Of course they had the “infamy” of being related to the great Gama Pehalwan and his sons who could squeeze life out of a grown man as if a mosquito. In these famous gambling dens two cousins were on the top, Zia Sohail Butt and Akram Butt. They had established a small monopoly on the Mohni Road and the adjoining localities. Although very remotely related to Gama Pahalwan, they had been quite enterprising in using his name and his children. Also, they were supported by their own extended families including one uncle named Mian Muhammad Sharif. After Bhutto’s nationalizing of his only source of income the Ittefaq Foundry, Mian Muhammad Sharif and his brothers had to go back to their original business of selling junk and junk steel. In that they required time and again help of their nephews, to thwart competitor bidders. The small family gang had established a good “badmash” reputation of being the real “not-Pahalwans” of Mohni Road. (We will be using the term not-pahalwans to differentiate the family of Mian Muhammad Sharif with the family of Gama Pahalwan.)

In 1979 the not-pahalwan family was suddenly thrust into a completely new venture. They saw small amounts of a new substance – heroin – making into their gambling dens. Mian Muhammad Sharif, the most enterprising of all, was quick to assess the potential and his nephews Sohail Zia Butt and Akram Butt were quick to jump on the bandwagon. Within a year the not-Pahalwan Family had created a monopoly on heroin in Mohni Road and each member of not-pahawan family was earning a profit in millions. Within a period of two years the entire family of not-pehlawans was back on its feet and their factories were operating again. Being real entrepreneurs, they were investing all their earnings in industry.

Character of a corrupt leader -Abhi tu main Jawan hoon  

In the early eighties, after that Nawaz Sharif had completed his education his father Mian Muhammad Sharif started him in the business. However, this proved a disaster. As a second option Mian Muhammad Sharif set him up with Pakistani actor Saeed Khan Rangeela to get him into acting (something which Nawaz Sharif wanted). A few days later Saeed Khan Rangeela sent his regrets to Mian Muhammad Sharif saying that his son was too dumb for acting and movie industry. Mian Muhammad Sharif then a cricket coaches to train his son for cricket, but his physical fitness was too low for the sport. It is rumored that by mid-day on his first day at training Nawaz Sharif threw the bat down and left the stadium saying, “This is too tough for me.” As a last resort he paid General Ghulam Jilani Khan a considerable sum of monies to introduce Nawaz Sharif to General Zia-ul-Haq recommending him for a political post, who in turn made Nawaz Sharif the Finance Minister of Punjab. This was the day when the street thugs of Mohni Road had stepped on to becoming the national thugs of Pakistan.

The day Nawaz Sharif had become Finance Minister, the entire family’s earnings were few million rupees and had only one refinery. From there they went on to: Ittefaq Sugar Mills was set up in 1982, Brothers steel in 1983, Brother’s Textile Mills in 1986, Brothers Sugar Mills Ltd in 1986, Ittefaq Textile units in 2-3 in 1987, Khalid Siraj Textile Mills in 1988, Ramzan Buksh Textiles in 1987, Farooq Barkat (pvt) Ltd in 1985. By the time of Zia ul Haq’s fateful plane crash, Mian Muhammad Sharif’s family was earning a net profit of US$ 3 million, up from a few million rupees. By the end of the decade their net assets were worth more than 6 billion rupees, according to their own admission, nearly US$ 350 million at the time. But this turned out to be small-change when Nawaz Sharif became the Prime Minister.

When Nawaz Sharif became prime minister, the group took a decision to secure project loans from the foreign banks and only working capital was taken from the nationalized commercial banks. The project financing from foreign banks was ostensibly secured against the foreign currency deposits, a number of which were held in benamee accounts, as repeatedly claimed by Interior Minister Naseer Ullah Babar at his press conferences. In 1992 Salman Taseer released an account of Nawaz Sharif’s corruption stating that the family had taken loans of up to 12 billion rupees, which were never paid back. On March 2, 1994, Khalid Siraj, a cousin of Nawaz Sharif claimed that the assets of the seven brothers were valued at Rs 21 billion.

These were the accounts of profits and companies which were openly known to public. However, the family kept their side business going all the while – the gambling dens and heroin control in Lahore – and along with their industry the side business also mushroomed.

During the Afghan-Soviet War Nawaz Sharif’s cousin Sohail Zia Butt started working under the drug baron Mirza Iqbal Beg, then Pakistan’s second biggest drug lord after Ayub Afridi. Mian Muhammad Sharif and his sons had a permanent share in his gambling and heroin business. In 1990 Suhail Butt won a seat on the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad ticket in the Punjab Assembly. It was through Sohail Butt’s association that Nawaz Sharif became a close associate of Mirza Iqbal Beg. It was through him that Nawaz Sharif became benami owner of many of the privatized government entities, such as Muslim Commercial Bank. Sohail Zia Butt other than getting involved in the drug business made billions in the co-operative societies’ collapse, mainly through the National Industrial Credit and Finance Corporation. It was Nawaz Sharif’s share in his cousin’s drug business which he used to buy off the generals thereby delaying the inevitable dismissal of his government.

In 1995 when Mirza Iqbal Beg was imprisoned, Sohail Zia Butt took over his drug empire. It is at this time that he became one of the biggest drug and crime bosses in Pakistan and was nicknamed the “King of Hera Mandi” and at one time all six underworld gangs of Lahore were working under him.

By 1995 family’s declared annual profits from industrial units had increased 1500% from US$ 30 million to staggering US$ 400 million.

This is the short version of how in mere 15 years small street thugs running gambling dens became leaders of a country running narcotics, underworld and smuggling empires, untouched by everyone.

Original article: http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/pehlwans-from-street-thugs-to-national-thugs-story-of-not-so-sharif-brothers/

Nawaz Sharif Accused In Religious Attacks

Attacks on Christian minorities in Gojra shocked the world over the weekend. As the dust has started to clear, though, accusations are pointing to PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and his apparent lack of action to stop the attacks.
According to today’s Asia Times,

A leading bishop, Almas Hameed Masih, however, takes a different view and he has registered a complaint case with the police against the district’s entire administration, which was handpicked by the province’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), led by former premier Nawaz Sharif.
…
Investigations by Asia Times Online indicate that the attackers in Gojra comprised two main groups – Muslim clerics of different schools of thought, and non-political actors including traders’ associations. The PML-N, the largest political force in the town, appears to have been the binding force, led by local party president Abdul Qadir Awan.
…
If indeed the PML-N is implicated in the attack on the Christians, one can only speculate on its motives. A few weeks back, Nawaz Sharif created a political storm when he suggested that presidential powers be curtailed.
The military’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and a Washington envoy have immediately intervened, warning Sharif against taking any action that could destabilize the government and its battle against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Sharif's Family Embarrassed By Illegal Tiger

The family of Pakistan’s main opposition leader has come under fire for importing a Siberian tiger and housing the animal expensively at a private zoo in the middle of a sizzling summer.
A nephew of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and son of the popular chief minister of Punjab province Shahbaz Sharif imported the tiger last month after obtaining a special permit.
The tiger was housed in a special enclosure on the Sharif family farm in Punjab. The cost of the air-conditioning triggered a media uproar because few Pakistanis can afford such luxuries.
Sulieman Sharif shipped the animal from Canada after getting the necessary permits despite a ban on the private import of large cats, officials said.
The media criticised the move, saying that the compound would use the local electricity supply at a time of power shortages, and the family made arrangements for its relocation.
“Shahbaz was rightly displeased with his son for his disregard of international laws and… for purchasing and importing (a) highly priced and endangered wild animal,” the influential Dawn newspaper said.
Sulieman’s private secretary Sikandar Pasha said the family decided to give the animal to the government of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where temperatures in the mountains are significantly cooler.
Pasha denied the tiger was being removed because of criticism over the reported air-conditioning facilities when people were facing severe power shortages.
“There was no public pressure,” he told AFP. “It is the Sharif family’s own decision to gift it to the NWFP government. They are making arrangements to receive it.”
The Pakistan branch of the WWF said the Sharifs were expected to send the tiger to a holding centre at a national park, away from battle grounds with the Taliban.
“WWF really welcomes this decision,” conservation manager Uzma Khan told AFP. “Big cats should not be kept in private facilities,” she added.
Punjab government spokesman Pervez Rasheed defended the importing of the tiger.
“This tiger was imported by Suleiman in his personal capacity because he likes animals,” Rasheed told AFP.
“He fulfilled all the international obligations regarding the import and fulfilled the requirements under local laws.
“But it was difficult to maintain this in the available environment so he decided it was better to send it to a natural environment.”

Nawaz Sharif Scandals

The Danger of Nawaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif is the greatest possible disaster for Pakistan’s future. According to the Economists, he suggested Nuclear Proliferator A.Q. Khan as a Possible President of the Country, Ballots and Bombs in Pakistan.
On the campaign trial in the last electioon, Sharif promised that  Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is now under house arrest for selling nuclear-weapons technology to North Korea and Libya, as the President of Pakistan if he were elected.

The anti-global Nawaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif has built his entire career on Islamist populism. In 1990 he ran as the candidate for prime minister of the Islamic Democratic Alliance, known as IJI because of its Urdu initials. Sharif became Prime Minister for the first time after a nasty anti-Bhutto and anti-western campaign. Here is what the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), which sent observers for that election, had to say about that campaign:

“Few substantive political, economic or social issues were debated during the campaign. Even the issuance of manifestos by the competing parties was a proforma affair. The campaign was quickly reduced to a single issue: whether the people supported or opposed the Bhutto family.
“The IJI attacked Benazir Bhutto’s record in office and emphasized the corruption of her ministers and of her husband, Asif Zardari. Members of the IJI criticized not only Bhutto’s abilities, but also her right, as a woman, to rule a Muslim state. The PDA appeared disorganized and portrayed itself as a victim of the ‘establishment.’ It felt harassed by the changes lodged against PDA leaders in the accountability tribunals.
“The most contentious element of the election campaign, and perhaps the most successful from an IJI perspective, was the IJI’s strategy of tying Benazir and Nasrat Bhutto to the United States and to the so-called “Indo-Zionist lobby” in the U.S. The lobby was portrayed as having close ties to India and Israel, and opposing Pakistan’s development of a nuclear capability. In particular, the Bhuttos were accused of “selling-out” Pakistan’s nuclear program. (See Appendix XII)

From the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs report titled “The October 1990 Elections in Pakistan: Report of the International Delegation”, on page 38.

Nawaz Sharif: The Premier of Graft

Back in 1999, Tim Weiner wrote an article titled, Pakistani Report Alleges Graft by Ex-Premier, for the New York Times:

Pakistan’s deposed Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, skimmed hundreds of millions of dollars from public works, wheat imports, sugar exports and other Government projects, according to detailed records compiled by the nation’s most prominent criminal investigator.
Mr. Sharif, already under investigation by the nation’s new military Government for obtaining huge unsecured loans from state banks, enriched himself, his family and his friends in Government deals he conducted as Prime Minister, according to evidence compiled by the investigator, Rehman Malik.
”He was running the Government like his own private business,” Mr. Malik said in an interview. Mr. Malik says he has hundreds of pages of records describing Mr. Sharif’s use of state power for profit. They appear to document a decade of graft.
It began when Mr. Sharif was a rising politician in the 1980′s, grew during his first term as Prime Minister, from 1991 to 1993, when he was dismissed by Pakistan’s President on corruption charges, and continued in his second term, from 1997 until he was replaced in a military coup two weeks ago, the records show.

The record of fleecing that Sharif did included:

*At least $160 million pocketed from a contract to build a highway from Lahore, his home town, to Islamabad, the nation’s capital. The money, he says, was generated by an inflated bid accepted by Mr. Sharif. Mr. Malik says the extra $160 million took the form of a gift to Prime Minister Sharif and his associates.
*At least $140 million in unsecured loans from Pakistan’s state banks, which he says went to finance companies owned or controlled by Mr. Sharif.
*More than $60 million generated from Government rebates on sugar exported by mills controlled by Mr. Sharif and his business associates.
*At least $58 million skimmed from inflated prices paid for imported wheat from the United States and Canada.

My goodness. In fact, In the wheat deal, Mr. Sharif’s Government paid prices far above market value to a private company owned by a close associate of his in Washington, the records show. Falsely inflated invoices for the wheat generated tens of millions of dollars in cash. The list goes on:

Mr. Malik’s evidence includes several intricate examples of what Mr. Malik calls money laundering through a global network of businesses, banks and bogus transactions from Lahore to London.
In one case, he has traced the flow of $7.85 million, including borrowed Government funds, from Mr. Sharif’s family business, the Ittefaq Group. The money was transferred through money-changers in the open-air bazaars of Peshawar, Pakistan, through five accounts at the Bank of Oman, a Persian Gulf emirate, to 43 members of Mr. Sharif’s extended family.
In another case, Mr. Malik tracked $1.85 million channeled through a Swiss bank to accounts in Washington, London, Pakistan and the British Virgin Islands that he said were controlled by Mr. Sharif, his family and his friends.
And in a third case, he said, Mr. Sharif engineered Government policy for profit.
Last year, Mr. Sharif’s Government, desperately seeking foreign currency, exported 350,000 tons of sugar to India. To spur the exports, the Government offered a rebate to sugar manufacturers of about 10 cents a pound.
There was a catch: the sugar would have to be exported by rail. The Government runs the railroads. And when the trains were ready to be loaded, at least 90 percent of the rail cars were reserved for sugar produced by companies controlled by Mr. Sharif and his business associates, Mr. Malik said.