WikiLeaks: Nawaz responsible for Islamic radicalism

"We know Sharif is bad news. He is the author of Islami­c radica­lism in our region” says former Afghan FM.

The former Afghan foreign minister believed that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif was responsible for Islamic radicalism in the region.

In a cable message sent from the American embassy in Kabul in September, he is quoted as saying, “We know Sharif is bad news. He is the author of Islamic radicalism in our region”.

The cables reveal that Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed these views during a meeting with Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher in August 2007.

Boucher in turn agreed that Nawaz could return to lead a movement against former president Pervez Msuharraf and the US.

“Boucher agreed that Sharif could return to lead a movement that is pro-Islam, anti-Musharraf and anti- U.S.”

Spanta’s remarks came in relation to a discussion on the joint Pakistan-Afghanistan jirga held the same year which Musharraf had initially declined to attend due to fears Nawaz might be allowed to return to the country by the Supreme Court.

“Boucher clarified that Musharraf’s initial decision not to attend was not a snub to the jirga itself but a cautionary move by Musharraf, who feared the Pakistani Supreme Court would rule to allow former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan.”