ISLAMABAD: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) already knew about the United Nation sanctions after the Mumbai attacks through Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who had advised them to withdraw their money from banks, President Asif Ali Zardari had revealed to former US ambassador Anne W Patterson, Wikileaks reports have alleged.
Sharif had “tipped off” the banned outfit LeT to help them evade UN sanctions, Zardari allegedly told Patterson, adding that earlier he had done the same for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), LeT’s parent organization, “resulting in almost empty bank accounts,” Wikileaks have claimed.
US diplomats were unable to confirm the allegations which have come at a time of rising political tension between Zardari and Sharif but they conceded that JuD did appear to have received a warning from somewhere. “Information from the ministry of the interior does indicate that bank accounts contained surprisingly small amounts,” said the cable in January 2009.
In February this year, Patterson also wrote that the civilian government (in Pakistan) “remains weak, ineffectual and corrupt. Domestic politics is dominated by uncertainty about the fate of president Zardari.” The US ambassador also repeatedly raised the alarm over the nuclear issue, saying:
“Our major concern is not having an Islamic militant steal an entire weapon but rather the chance someone working in government facilities could gradually smuggle enough material out to eventually make a weapon.” Later she upped the ante, saying there was a stockpile of highly enriched uranium which had been sitting for years near an ageing research reactor.
Patterson said there was enough material to build several dirty bombs or an actual nuclear bomb if the material fell into the hands of people who had the right expertise.
