ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 20 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's relations with Pakistani politicians continue to be speculated upon in the Pakistani media.
Information Secretary of the Nawaz Sharif faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, Siddiq ul Farooq, has said bin Laden had never met former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, nor had they ever talked about political cooperation.
Sharif served as Pakistan's prime minister from November 1990 to July 1993, and again from February 1997 until October 12, 1999, when he was deposed in a coup led by General Pervez Musharraf, now President of Pakistan and head of the army.
Nawaz was imprisoned and tried in 2000 by Pakistan's anti-terrorism courts on charges of embezzlement, corruption, tax evasion, hijacking and terrorism. Convicted on all counts, Sharif received several life sentences, but was subsequently allowed to go into exile in Saudi Arabia along with his family.
Pakistan's International Online News network reported on March 19 that Farooq said: "I want to keep it on record that U.S. intelligence agencies, the then Pakistani government, Inter-Services Intelligence and secret agencies of Pakistan, Afghan Mujahideen, several religious parties including Jamaat-e-Islami and Osama bin Laden were fighting jointly for liberating Afghanistan from occupation of USSR.
"Osama was a highly dignified person in the eyes of others and United States at that time. Later differences developed between Osama and United States on the issue of Afghanistan and now they stand adversaries to each other. Nawaz Sharif has no relevance to this situation."
