Al Qaeda founder Osama bin-Laden funded Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan, claims PTI leader Farrukh Habib

ISLAMABAD: In a sensational claim that is likely to worsen problems for former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Farrukh Habib has claimed that that former slain al-Qaeda founder Osama bin-Laden had funded the PML-N government.

Habib had alleged that former PM Nawaz Sharif’s party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had conceded before the country’s Election Commission’s scrutiny committee that it had received funds from Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden.

Habib had further claimed that Sharif had opened the gates for foreign interference in Pakistan’s electoral process by receiving funds from Osama bin-Laden - global terrorist - to topple the then former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s government.

Habib made these remarks while speaking to the reporters after hearings of foreign funding cases against the PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) last week.

The PTI leader Farrukh Habib claimed that PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party had failed to provide the details of their donors.  Habib also slammed the Islamic outfit Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and alleged that its chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman also received funds from Libya and Iraq.

It may be recalled that last week, Pakistan’s former envoy to the US, Abida Hussain, had claimed that al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden had supported and extended financial assistance to former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“Yes, he (Osama bin Laden) supported Mian Nawaz Sharif at one time. However, that is a complicated story. He (Osama) used to extend financial assistance (to Nawaz Sharif) him,” the former envoy had said.

Abida, who was also a former minister in Nawaz Sharif’s government, said that Osama was very popular and liked by everyone including the Americans but at a later stage, he was treated as a ‘stranger’. 

Osama was killed in a midnight raid by the US Navy SEALs in Pakistan’s garrison town of Abbottabad in 2011. Pakistan, which had initially rejected allegations of giving safe haven for the Al-Qaeda terror chief, had to face massive embarrassment after he was killed by the US forces in Abbottabad, inside Pakistan.

Nawaz Sharif, who was the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, has been accused of receiving money from  Osama bin-Laden’s outfit in order to promote jihad in Kashmir and fund terror against India.

He served as prime minister from 1990-93, 1997-98, and 2013-17. The 70-year-old Nawaz is currently residing in London undergoing treatment. He was ousted from power in 2017 by the Supreme Court on corruption charges.