Nawaz 'ordered' General's arrest

ISLAMABAD, Nov 21 (PTI) — Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on October 12 had ordered the arrest of Gen Pervez Musharraf and directed that the plane carrying the General should not be allowed to land at the Karachi airport, prosecution witnesses told a magistrate in a crucial deposition.

Mr Ahsanullah Gondal, a former SSP of Nawabshah City, said while recording his statement before a judicial magistrate in the plane hijacking case, that the then IG, Mr Rana Maqbool, had ordered him to arrest the army chief as soon as the PIA plane landed at the Nawabshah airport.

He said Mr Maqbool instructed him to reach the airport with forces in strength and arrest the army chief. When he questioned that how could he arrest the army chief without an FIR against him, "Mr Maqbool replied that it was the Prime Minister’s instruction".

Mr Gondal along with two other prosecution witnesses recorded their statements before a magistrate yesterday in the presence of the five accused including Mr Sharif, and their lawyers, The Dawn an English daily, said.

Mr Sharif along with four top functionaries in the previous government are facing charges of treason, attempted murder and hijacking by not allowing the PIA commercial flight carrying General Musharraf and nearly 200 other passengers to land at the Karachi airport on October 12 which led to the army coup and dismissal of Mr Sharif’s government.

Wing Commander Ahmed Farooq, Secretary to the then Director-General of Civil Aviation, who was also one of the witnesses, said it was Mr Sharif, who issued instructions that the plane should not be allowed to land.

Mr Farooq deposed before the magistrate that a former DG, CAA, Mr Aminullah Choudhury, called him up on October 12 and told him, "the Prime Minister has talked to me on the telephone and ordered me not to allow the army chief’s plane to land in Pakistan".

He said Mr Chaudhury confirmed from him whether the Karachi airfield had been closed.

The army in its FIR against Mr Sharif and others had said vehicles were parked on the runway in three directions to prevent landing by the aircraft.

He said when the Chief Operation Officer at the Karachi air control informed that the pilot of the plane was asking for permission to land due to shortage of fuel, the DG, CAA, emphasised: "It is an order of the Prime Minister not to allow the plane to land anywhere in Pakistan".

Later, when the DG was told of the gravity of the situation, he allowed the plane to land at Nawabshah, 200 km north of Karachi which is considered an alternative airport to the port city.

Another prosecution witness Capt Shahnawaz Dara of the PIA flight operations said in his statement that "he was told by the Chairman of the PIA, Mr Shahid Khaqan Abbas, that Mr Sharif had instructed him on the phone from Islamabad that PIA flight PK-805, on which General Musharraf was travelling, should not be allowed to land at Karachi and instead be directed to Muscat".

Meanwhile the deposed Prime Minister known for opulent living, is detained in a dimly lit single room in an old barrack in Karachi.

Mr Sharif, who was handed over to the police last week after more than a month of detention with the military authorities, has been kept in a badly maintained small room of an old barrack in the Malir cantonment near the Karachi airport, The Jung said quoting sources.

Giving details of the room, in which Mr Sharif is languishing, the report said: "The room has not been cleaned for a long time and as a result has dirty walls. In the name of furniture it has a bed, a table and three wooden chairs".

There is also an attached bathroom to the room which has not been maintained for long.

He has not been given any television or radio set and has no access to newspapers.

Mr Sharif always had the habit of living in extreme luxury and was fond of good food. His massive Prime Minister’s house was a perfect example of opulence with a team of servants, including a number of chefs to prepare variety of food for him.

Al-Nawaz owns up Lahore blasts

ISLAMABAD, Nov 21 (PTI) — The Al-Nawaz, a hitherto unknown group claiming to be supporter of deposed Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif has claimed responsibility for the yesterday’s bomb blast in a congested market of Lahore in which six persons were killed and several others injured.

The group calling itself as Al-Nawaz and claiming to be the "true loyalists of Nawaz Sharif" in a fax message to a Pakistani newspaper’s office in Karachi said that the bomb attack in the Sooter Mandi in Lahore was carried out to protest against the "hijacking of our great leader Nawaz Sharif’s government by the bloody military regime’’.

The group also issued a warning in its fax message that "we pledge that we will continue similar activities until the government of our great leader Nawaz Sharif was restored’’.

"We are responsible for today’s bomb blast in Lahore. This is the beginning of second round of agitation from us and we have carried out this blast in order to register our protest’’, the fax message dated November 20 said.

Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League was, however, quick to disown the unknown group.

The PML said: "this (Al-Nawaz) group has nothing to do with the Muslim League or Nawaz Sharif’s party, senior vice-president Ejazul Haq said adding that, "this was probably done by outside agencies like RAW or someone trying to create problems between the PML and the present government.’’

The PML leader also said his party’s policy was "no confrontation with the Army".

"The Pakistan Muslim League was following all legal course and would seek legal recourse against the suspension of Parliament and the assemblies," Mr Haq said.

"We shall not create a law and order situation", Mr Haq asserted while terming the claim of the so-called Al-Nawaz group as "baseless".

PML deserting Sharif?

ISLAMABAD, Nov 21 (UNI, PTI) — Striking a conciliatory posture, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) has described itself as a "natural ally of the Army" which overthrew its democratically-elected government in a bloodless coup on October 12.

PML media committee head Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a former Federal Minister told a news conference after a party meeting that the PML and the army were "indispensable for each other".

"A confrontation between the two would not be in the interest of either and that is why the PML has decided not to involve itself in a struggle against the army," he said.

The meeting was held at the residence of former Parliamentary Secretary Rana Tanvir Ahmed Khan to discuss the post-coup situation and formulate a strategy to counter the "one-sided propaganda" against Mr Sharif, the Dawn reported today.

Sheikh Rashid appreciated the court decision allowing Mr Sharif to meet his family. He said similar permission should be given to former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s family.

The former Federal Minister called for the restoration of the suspended assemblies, and justice to all detained leaders.

He said the restoration of the legislative assemblies would be in the interest of the armed forces and the country. "once the assemblies are restored, the party will evolve a consensus on the new leader."

Answering a question, Sheikh Rashid said the PML had not yet contacted the Army but as a political party it had not closed its doors to talks.

When it was pointed out that the deposed Prime Minister’s attitude towards the Army was hostile and not conciliatory like the rest of the party, Sheikh Rashid merely said: "The PML has decided to avoid a confrontation."

Meanwhile, Mr Nawaz Sharif has decided to move the country’s apex court challenging the Army takeover and the dismissal of his government, his Pakistan Mulsim League (PML) party sources said.

Mr Sharif has directed his lawyers to file a petition before the Supreme Court in a day or two in this regard during a 90-minute meeting with Pakistan’s top constitutional lawyer and his former law minister Khalid Anwar in Karachi where he is kept in police custody, two days ago, said the sources.

They said as per the directive of Mr Sharif, the petition is expected to be filed tomorrow at the Islamabad registry of the apex court. However, Mr Anwar hinted that it could be filed tomorrow or Tuesday. The law team of the party has already held detailed consultations on this.

The PML had, at its first parliamentary party meeting on Monday last since the army coup, taken unanimously decided to challenge the dismissal of the government before the Supreme Court and file a joint petition along with all its allies.

Meanwhile, Mr Sharif has termed as "engineered" the charges of treason, attempted murder and hijacking against him and said he would get justice if courts were not "pressurised."

Mr Sharif expressed his feelings to a Pakistani journalist who dodged heavy security to sneak into the Malir Judicial Magistrate’s court in Karachi yesterday when he was produced to witness recording of statements of prosecution witnesses against him.

Sharif plot to confront Army confirmed

ISLAMABAD, Nov 21 (PTI) — Mr Moinuddin Haider, Interior Minister in General Musharraf’s military regime, has confirmed the report that deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had distributed seven truckloads of arms among his supporters under a conspiracy to confront the army.

Mr Haider, who was a Governor during the Sharif government, confirmed the report published in the leading Urdu daily "Jung" yesterday in which it was claimed that the Sharif government had given training to 50 youths in tribal areas and had distributed seven truckloads of arms among them under this plan, the English daily said.

Mr Sharif’s close friend and adviser Saifur Rehman was the main character in this plan as he gave money to the then North-West Frontier Province Chief Minister, Mr Sardar Mehtab Abbasi to purchase the weapons.

Under the plan, more truckloads of arms were to be distributed to create a civil war-like situation in the country to prevent army takeover, the report said.

The army authorities apparently seized details of the plan from the files of the Interior Ministry. The issue was now under the investigation of the authorities, the report said, adding that another criminal case was likely to be filed against Mr Sharif in this connection.

Mr Moinuddin was earlier Governor of Sindh during the Sharif government but was later removed by him when he dismissed the Sind government and launched an operation against the Mohajir Party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

Restore basic rights, Sharif’s kin plead

ISLAMABAD, Nov 21 (PTI) — Nusrat Shahbaz Sharif, wife of deposed Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, has approached Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) to restore basic rights of her family members alleging that the army has kept the entire family under detention for more than a month and was treating them like criminals.

In a letter to the Chief Justice Saiduzz Aman Siddiqui, Nusrat Sharif not only expressed her concern about the "illegal" detention of her husband by the "self-declared chief executive" but also alleged that the entire, family which included children as young as two years old and elders as old as 90 years, were kept under confinement.

"I am writing to you to express my concern about my husband who has been illegally detained for the past five weeks and we do not even know his whereabouts and health", Nusrat wrote, adding that she has "written umpteenth times to the self-declared chief executive" in this regard thus making an obvious reference to Gen Pervez Musharraf.

"By which authority they have detained my husband?", she asked, while pointing out that neither a single case has been registered against him nor he was allowed to contact his family.

She urged the CJP to ask the authorities to follow the basic principles of rule of law and "my husband may be allowed to speak to his family and also we be allowed to see him".

She further said that "each and every member of my family, both children as young as two year old and elders as old as 90 years of age are being detained for the last one month and are being denied the basic necessities of life".

"The army has moved inside our house, which is a flagrant violation of law of privacy and it amounts to trespassing", she said in her letter while adding that, "all the family members are being treated like criminals" and asks that whether they are being treated like this only because they are related to the "illegally deposed Prime Minister and the Chief Minister".

Shahbaz Sharif, who was the Chief Minister of Punjab, had been arrested by army authorities immediately after the army coup on October 12 and kept under detention since then.