M A I N   N E W S

Charges framed against Sharif

ISLAMABAD, Jan 19 (PTI) — Pakistan’s deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz and five others were today formally charged with kidnapping, attempted murder, hijacking and terrorism after they pleaded not guilty before an anti-terrorist court in Karachi, three months after he was ousted in a coup.

If convicted of the charges, emanating from denial of permission to a PIA plane carrying army chief General Pervez Musharraf and other passengers from Colombo to land at Karachi airport on October 12 last year leading to his ouster in a bloodless coup, they could face life imprisonment and the death penalty.“I plead not guilty because I am innocent,” Mr Sharif told the court after Judge Rehmet Hussein Jaffri read out the charges saying the accused “have committed the crime of hijacking and thus endangering the lives of 198 passengers and crew members, including Gen Musharraf.”

“You also illegally confined the passengers and by this act created sense of uncertainty and insecurity among the passengers. Thus you are charged with these offences,” the judge said.

“I am not the one who hijacked the plane. It was Gen Pervez Musharraf who hijacked the democratically elected government,” Mr Sharif told the judge.

All the seven accused were brought in an armoured vehicle amidst tight security and they were present in the court when the charges were read out.

The judge adjourned the hearing till January 26, when the trial is expected to begin.

Besides Mr Sharif and Mr Shahbaz others who pleaded their innocence were former chairman of accountability bureau Saifur Rehman, adviser to deposed premier Syed Ghaus Ali Shah, former PIA chairman Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former IG police of Sindh Rana Maqbool Ahmed and a senior bureaucrat Saeed Mehdi.

Mr Sharif later told reporters outside the court “these allegations are fake, false, and baseless and were to justify the illegal and unconstitutional act of October 12.”

The military authorities have accused Mr Sharif of jeopardising the lives of General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s military ruler, and nearly 200 passengers, when their PIA flight was initially prevented from landing at Karachi airport on October 12.