M A I N   N E W S

Kargil led to coup: Sharif

KARACHI, March 8 (Reuters) — Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said at his trial today that General Pervez Musharraf plotted his overthrow after they clashed over incursions into Kargil last year.

Mr Sharif, in his first testimony to an anti-terrorism court where he faces charges of attempted murder and hijacking, said Gen Musharraf bore a grudge against him and had been making plans to topple the government sometime before the coup last October 12.

“He bore a grudge against me on a number of counts and had already prepared a blueprint for the overthrow of my government,” Mr Sharif told the court at which he faced a possible death sentence.

He said differences with Gen Musharraf began with the “Kargil crisis”, when India and Pakistan came close to a fourth war when Pakistan-backed infiltrators took over peaks around Kargil.

“He (Musharraf) was playing hide and seek on this issue — not only with me but also with the armed forces. My objection to this conduct was a cause of (Musharraf’s) resentment.”

Mr Sharif read out a statement for more than an hour in open court but said that he would later disclose some sensitive details on Kargil in a closed court or in writing.

He said Gen Musharraf had framed him in a “fabricated” case to divert attention from the military coup.

Mr Sharif also rejected charges that he had ordered the denial of landing rights to a civilian plane carrying Gen Musharraf and 198 passengers at Karachi on October 12. Hours after the plane landed, Gen Musharraf overthrew Mr Sharif.

“On that fateful night only one crime took place. The unconstitutional and illegal removal of Pakistan’s democratically elected government”, he said.

Mr Sharif said the army had offered him a “compromise” in prison that could have helped end the case against him but he rejected the deal.

Escaped ultra arrives in PoK

MUZAFFARABAD (PoK), March 8 (AFP) — Ghulam Rasool, Shah, a top Kashmiri militant who escaped from Indian custody last month, has reached Pakistan occupied Kashmir, a spokesman for his organisation said today.

Shah escaped on February 2 when he was being escorted by the police to a hospital in Srinagar.

He was one of the 36 jailed militants whose release had been originally demanded by the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane on Christmas Eve last year.