'Will hoist Pakistan flag in Delhi': As Punjab CM, Shehbaz Sharif sheltered JeM's Masood Azhar, LeT's Hafiz Saeed, claims WikiLeaks

New Delhi: After the Indian Air Force bombed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camps in Balakot area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistani leader Shehbaz Sharif, brother of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted by Geo TV as saying that 'Pakistan's flag will fly in Delhi.'

The statement from the Pakistan leader appears to validate India's claim that successive governments in Pakistan have been sheltering terrorists to be used against India for proxy war.

File image of Shehbaz Sharif. AP

Salman Taseer, the former governor of Punjab, had in 2008 claimed that the Sharif brothers — Shehbaz and Nawaz — are too close to terrorists including Maulana Masood Azhar.

In the WikiLeaks file on Shehbaz Sharif, Taseer lamented: "the Punjab government has done nothing to arrest Qari Saif Ullah Akhtar of Harkat Jihad al Islami; Maulana Masood Azhar of Jaiseh-e-Muhammad; Maulana Ludianvi of Sipah-e-Sahaba, or Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Azhar of Lashkar-e-Taiba — despite outstanding warrants for their detention (sic)".

Taseer further claimed: "the Sharif brothers 'keep going to madrassas that are extremely reactionary', and canoodling with maulvis. Shehbaz and his brother Nawaz have ignored the growing extremist threat in Punjab".

The bombing of JeM camps has angered younger Sharif, who has all along supported terror outfits along with his brother Nawaz. Both have been accused of flirting with the most-wanted terrorists in Pakistan.

In another leaked cable on WikiLeaks, Shehbaz had conceded in 2008 that terrorism was becoming a serious problem. He, however, gave himself a clean chit.

"Shehbaz blamed the increasing activity on lack of socio-economic development in the region and an influx of money from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait that while originally destined for religious charities often found its way into the hands of radical madrassa and mosque leaders with ties to the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other terrorist entities," the leaked cable said.

Shehbaz had promised the Americans that a number of madrassas to be closed, forcibly reformed, or monitored under a new programme designed to help end terrorism problem. However, his home secretary had told American envoys that they were unaware of Masood Azhar's whereabouts.