More trouble for Sharif
Co-accused turns approver

KARACHI, Nov 24 (Reuters, PTI, ANI) — One of the four persons accused along with former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has agreed to testify against him in a case involving possible hijacking and kidnapping charges, a prosecutor said today.

Mr Sharif, who was ousted in a bloodless military coup on October 12, has been remanded in custody with the other accused until Friday, when formal charges may be laid.

Raja Qureshi, one of the three prosecutors in the case, said former Civil Aviation Authority Chief Aminullah Chaudhry had volunteered to testify against Mr Sharif in the case, which could lead to a death penalty, and had asked for a pardon.

"He applied for a pardon under the code of criminal proceedings on his own request,’’ said Mr Qureshi, who is also the Advocate-General of Sindh province.

"It has been granted by the competent authority and his statement has been recorded. He enjoys the status of an approver in the trial,’’ Mr Qureshi told Reuters.

In Pakistan, an approver is an accomplice in a crime who decides to give evidence against another prisoner.

"His statement was recorded yesterday and will be presented in a trial court,’’ Mr Qureshi added.

"He (Chaudhry) has confessed that he was ordered by the former Premier Nawaz Sharif to not to let the plane (carrying Army Chief Pervez Musharraf and 200 other passengers from Colombo on October 12) to land (at Karachi airport) in a telephone conversation," a court official was quoted as saying.

"He is now the principal approver in the case and will be a star witness," the official said.

Mr Sharif may also be charged with criminal conspiracy and attempted murder, but the hijacking accusation is the most serious as it can carry a death penalty.

The others accused are Ghous Ali Shah, a former adviser of Mr Sharif, former Pakistan International Airlines Chairman Shahid Khakan Abbasi and former Sindh province Police Chief Rana Maqbool.

A special team of the Karachi police has been sent to Islamabad to record statements of witnesses at the Prime Minister’s secretariat (now re-designated CC’s) which may lead to arrest of other conspirators in the October 12 plane conspiracy case.

According to a senior police official, the police team, comprise airport DSP Mehboob Khan and Gulzar-i-Hijri, DSP Imam Bux Tagar. It will record the statements of seven to eight persons including the staff deployed at the secretariat on October 12.

The sources said the former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, former Information Minister Mushahid Hussain, former PTV Chairman Pervez Rashid and former Principal Secretary to the ex-PM Saeed Mehdi might also be booked in the plane conspiracy case.

The police is collecting maximum evidence to strengthen the case of the prosecution and if it was felt imperative, sections in the FIR with regard to the alleged crimes committed on October 12 could be changed or amended according to the prescribed law, they said.

Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s father and the women members of his family had been released but his two brothers continue to be in "legal custody", it was officially announced a report from Islamabad said.

The first official statement about the detention of the members of the Sharif family was made before the Lahore High Court on behalf of the military regime during the hearing of petitions challenging the detention of Sharif’s family members for more than a month without any valid case against them.

Meanwhile, a close adviser of deposed Mr Nawaz Sharif has been declared a defaulter along with his company by the Lahore High Court which also issued a decree of nearly one billion rupees against him.

The court’s banking judge Justice Muhammad Qayyum issued the decree against Saifur Rehman, chairman of Accountability Bureau in the previous government, his brothers and his company Redco Textiles Mills yesterday on the basis of a recovery suit filed by the public sector United Bank Limited. Rehman, is under detention of the Army authorities since the military coup on October 12.

In another development wife of ousted Mr Nawaz Sharif Kulsoom Nawaz has contended that her husband had not committed any crime, and maintained that his innocence would be proved if a "free and fair" trial was conducted.

"We want a free and fair trial, and the media should be allowed to cover the entire judicial process," she said in a choked voice.

Meanwhile, former Interior Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said in Lahore that Kulsoom had refused to accept any office in the party and had told party leaders in Karachi that she would work like an ordinary worker.