Religious party leader exposes alleged Sharif-Bin Laden ties

Lahore: Al Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden had visited the Mansoora headquarters of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Lahore and was prepared to buy the loyalties of lawmakers to help Nawaz Sharif come to power, a top religious alliance leader has said.

In an interview with the Sunday magazine of Urdu daily Jang, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the president of the six-party Muttahida Majalis Amal (MMA) religious alliance, said Bin Laden was interested in a deal with Jamaat-e-Islami that he heads.

Ahmad said he declined the suggestion.

The MMA chief said he and Osama Bin Laden met several times at his Peshawar residence and at the Jamaat headquarter in Mansoora. "Osama [Bin Laden] used to be a big supporter of Nawaz Sharif and wanted to see him in power.

"And he was even prepared to pay for buying parliamentarians from the other parties to achieve this objective," Qazi Hussain said.

In a related development, Khalid Khawaja, a former squadron leader of the Pakistan Air Force, who used to work for the ISI, endorsed the MQM leader's statement. According to him, after General Zia-Ul-Haq's death, ISI tried to prevent Pakistan People's Party led by Benazir Bhutto from coming to power as it feared it would be a setback to the cause of the jihad.

"We discussed this situation, and all the mujahideen [holy warriors] thought that they should play a role in blocking the PPP from winning the elections," Khawaja said.

"The PPP won the elections by a thin margin and faced a strong opposition. Osama Bin Laden provided me with funds, which I handed over to Nawaz Sharif, the then chief minister of Punjab [and later premier], to dislodge Benazir Bhutto."

Nawaz Sharif insisted that he arrange a direct meeting with Bin Laden, which he did, Khawaja said.