Home » Context of 'February 1991: Pakistan Supposedly Considers Funding Covert Operations through Drug Money'
Context of 'February 1991: Pakistan Supposedly Considers Funding Covert Operations through Drug Money'
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October 1990: Bin Laden Allegedly Helps Install Pakistani Leader Nawaz Sharif
In October 1990, Nawaz Sharif is running for election to replace Benazir Bhutto as the prime minister of Pakistan. According to a senior Pakistani intelligence source, bin Laden passes a considerable amount of money to Sharif and his party, since Sharif promises to introduce a hard-line Islamic government. Bin Laden has been supporting Sharif for several years. There is said to be a photograph of Sharif chatting with bin Laden. Sharif wins the election and while he does not introduce a hard-line Islamic government, his rule is more amenable to bin Laden's interests than Bhutto's had been. Sharif will stay in power until 1993, then will take over from Bhutto again in 1996 and rule for three more years. [Reeve, 1999, pp. 170-171] Former ISI official Khalid Khawaja, a self-proclaimed close friend of bin Laden, will later claim that Sharif and bin Laden had a relationship going back to when they first met face to face in the late 1980s. [ABC News, 11/30/2007] There are also accounts of additional links between Sharif and bin Laden (see Spring 1989, Late 1996, and Between Late 1996 and Late 1998).
Entity Tags: Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto, Khalid Khawaja, Osama bin Laden
February 1991: Pakistan Supposedly Considers Funding Covert Operations through Drug Money
Pakistan's army chief and the head of the ISI, its intelligence agency, propose to sell heroin to pay for the country's covert operations, according to Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's prime minister at the time. Sharif claims that shortly after becoming prime minister, army chief of staff Gen. Aslam Beg and ISI director Gen. Asad Durrani present him with a plan to sell heroin through third parties to pay for covert operations that are no longer funded by the CIA, now that the Afghan war is over. Sharif claims he does not approve the plan. Sharif will make these accusations in 1994, one year after he lost an election and became leader of the opposition. Durrani and Beg will deny the allegations. Both will have retired from these jobs by the time the allegations are made. The Washington Post will comment in 1994, "It has been rumored for years that Pakistan's military has been involved in the drug trade. Pakistan's army, and particularly its intelligence agency… is immensely powerful and is known for pursuing its own agenda." The Post will further note that in 1992, "A consultant hired by the CIA warned that drug corruption had permeated virtually all segments of Pakistani society and that drug kingpins were closely connected to the country's key institutions of power, including the president and military intelligence agencies." [Washington Post, 9/12/1994]
Entity Tags: Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Aslam Beg, Nawaz Sharif, Asad Durrani
Late 1993: Military Establishes Access Controls at Main A. Q. Khan Facility
The Pakistani military sets up a control ring around Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Kahuta. The ring comes about following a conversation between Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan army chief Wahid Kakar (see Late 1993). Bhutto will later say Kakar tells her, "Why don't we set up a command and control for KRL so the scientists can't go in and out without passing through the army ring?" At the time she thinks this is a good idea, as the labs will be cut off from the outside world and the military will be in charge of the perimeter. KRL will therefore be "airtight" and the scientists will not have the opportunity to smuggle things out, which she has heard may be a problem. However, Bhutto, who is never trusted by Pakistan's military, will later say that this solution "ultimately played into the military's hands and weakened my own." One reason is the person who is put in charge of the project: General Khawaja Ziauddin. Bhutto will comment: "I didn't know him. It was only later I found out that he was connected to the ISI and the forces pitted against me." Ziauddin is the nephew of General Ghulam Jilani Khan, a former ISI chief who had helped make Bhutto's rival Nawaz Sharif. In addition, he is close to army chief General Aslam Beg and powerful former ISI boss General Hamid Gul. Ziauddin will go on to become a key player in Pakistan's nuclear proliferation activities. [Levy and Scott-Clark, 2007, pp. 198, 498]
Entity Tags: Khawaja Ziauddin, Wahid Kakar, Benazir Bhutto, Kahuta Research Laboratories
November 20-23, 2007: ISI and Saudi Authorities Secretly Arrange to Allow Former Prime Minister to Return to Pakistan
Following the failed return of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan (see September 10, 2007), officials from Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency meet secretly with Saudi representatives in Riyadh to plan another attempt at bringing him back to the country ahead of forthcoming elections. (It is possible that ISI Director General Nadeem Taj and retired brigadier Niaz Ahmed also meet Sharif in Jeddah). The effort is apparently successful, as Sharif re-enters Pakistan a short time later (see November 25, 2007). Washington Post commentator Bob Novak will say these meetings indicate that if the turmoil in Pakistan causes current President Pervez Musharraf to lose his position, Sharif is "the ISI's chosen successor." [Daily Times (Lahore), 11/25/2007; Washington Post, 12/3/2007]
Entity Tags: Niaz Ahmed, Nawaz Sharif, Pervez Musharraf, Nadeem Taj, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Saudi Arabia