Petition to be filed on ‘Sharif-Osama links’

ISLAMABAD The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party plans to highlight the role of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for allegedly taking money from Osama bin Laden, the party’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said the PTI will file a petition in the Supreme Court seeking implementation of the verdict in Air Marshal (retired) Asghar Khan case‘s regarding the rigging of the 1990 election and that it would also approach the court against Sharif for allegedly taking money from the al-Qaeda chief in the name of jihad.

PTI claims the money allegedly taken from bin Laden was used in 1989 to conspire against then premier Benazir Bhutto’s government.

Chaudhry said he would file a petition in the Supreme Court this week seeking admission of the case against Sharif for “taking funds from a foreign individual to destabilise and conspire against democracy in Pakistan”.

The PTI possesses no evidence to substantiate its case in court, except for some interviews and excerpts from a book titled Khalid Khawaja: Shaheed-e-Aman, he said.

The book was written by Shamama Khalid, wife of former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operative Khalid Khawaja, who was murdered by the Taliban in North Waziristan in 2010.

The book claims Sharif took Rs 1.5 billion from bin Laden to promote jihad in Jammu and Kashmir and Afghanistan.

The book further claims Rs 270 million was used to support a no-confidence motion against Benazir Bhutto in 1989.

The PTI would also file a petition demanding the implementation of the 2012 verdict that Sharif had received money from an intelligence agency.