ISLAMABAD: A US diplomatic cable relapsed by WikiLeaks claims that ANP President Asfandyar Wali accused the PML-N of distributing “cash-filled envelops”, funded by Saudi Arabia, to party-backed lawyers during the lawyers movement and the long march in March 2009.
The cable, sent on March 12, 2009 by the then US ambassador Anne W Patterson, details her meeting with Asfandyar, who along with JUI-F Chief Fazlur Rehman, was mediating between President Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif to resolve the judicial crisis and avert the lawyers’ long march on March 15, 2009.
“ANP had seen PML-N members distributing cash envelopes to a stream of supporters this week. Like Zardari, Asfandyar said he believed the money was coming from the Saudis,” Patterson said, adding that Asfandyar had reminded her that Zardari had offered him prime minister’s slot immediately after the February 2008 elections.
“Asfandyar said that Zardari was surrounded by advisers who were not politicians, so he was not being encouraged to compromise, Nawaz’s chief adviser was Chaudhry Nisar who, with the Sharif brothers disqualified, stood the best chance of being the next PML-N prime minister,” the cable added.
