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.

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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.