‘Mullah' without beard’: Video of Mustafa Kamal making controversial remarks about Nawaz resurfaces on internet

An old clip from an interview with former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal resurfaced on the internet. In this snippet, journalist Iftikha Ahmed inquired about Kamal's controversial statements concerning Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto during his meeting with the then President of the US in 2009.

The video's background is set in a time when the leaders of two major political parties in Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, were forced into exile with their families under the military dictatorship of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

In the video shared by veteran journalist Javed Nusrat on ‘X,’ the host asks Kamal, “Is it true that you told Bill Clinton, the former President of the US, that the President of Pakistan, who was affiliated with Benazir Bhutto's party, dissolved her government due to her involvement in extrajudicial murders of 20,000 people?”

In response, Mustafa Kamal, who served as former senator, denied engaging in such a discussion with Bill Clinton.

In a controversial move, PPP leader and then president of the coutnry, Farooq Leghari, invoked the Eighth Amendment in 1996 to dismiss Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's government, citing corruption, economic decline, lawlessness, and extrajudicial killings.

In the same vein, journalist Iftikhar Ahmed asked him about his remarks involving PML-N Nawaz Sharif during his interaction with Bill Clinton.

"Is it accurate that during the same meeting with Clinton, you referred to Nawaz Sharif as a 'Mullah' without a beard?"

To this, Mustafa Kamal responded, 'Not at all.'

Following this, the host pointed out to Mustafa Kamal that despite his denial, there are available videos clearly showing him making these statements to Bill Clinton. The host offered to share a link with Mustafa Kamal for reference.

Subsequently, a video was played featuring Mustafa Kamal conversing with Bill Clinton about Pakistani politics and expressing the aforementioned remarks about Nawaz Sharif.

In the video, Bill Clinton asks Mustafa Kamal about his stance on “whether Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto should be allowed to return.”"No, he should be allowed to return, Nawaz Sharif but he is a Mullah without a beard, we have seen his regime, and the same goes for Benazir as well. Benazir is much more acceptable in Pakistan than Nawaz Sharif, but she should not come with a feudal mentality." Mustafa Kamal further notes that “during her last regime, Benazir gave orders for extrajudicial murders of tens of thousands of people in Karachi.”

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— Nusrat Javeed (@javeednusrat) January 12, 2024

The video reemerged at a time when negotiations between PMLN and MQM-P failed to reach a consensus. Shehbaz Sharif, who initially aimed to contest the NA-242 seat in Karachi, withdrew his candidacy on Thursday. The withdrawal was influenced by Mustafa Kamal's stubborn stance to vie for the same seat in the upcoming polls.