Islamabad: A new book has once again made the claim that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had received money from former Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. The book, Khalid Khawaja: Shaheed-i-Aman, is authored by Shamama Khalid, the wife of former ISI operative Khalid Khawaja, reports Dawn. ‘Chief of PML-N Mohammad Nawaz Sharif received funding from Osama Bin Laden, founder of Al-Qaeda, to contest elections against Benazir Bhutto’s led Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) after the end of Zia regime,’ the book states.
The book claims that Sharif’s pledge of introducing an Islamic system attracted Laden. But even though the Al Qaeda head honcho funded Sharif heavily, the latter backtracked from all his promises after coming into power. The book also carries a note from former ISI director general, retired Lt-General Hamid Gul, which also claims that Khawaja was very close to Nawaz Sharif for some time.
The book claims that Abdullah Azzam introduced Khawaja to Bin Laden.
Azzam, who is also known as the ‘father of global jihad’, was a Palestinian Sunni. Azzam raised funds and recruited jihadis from the Arab world, known as Afghan Arabs. A mentor of Bin Laden, he is said to have persuaded him to come to Afghanistan. The book alleged that the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were behind the killing of Khawaja and Col Imam.
