Grilling of Sharif begins

ISLAMABAD, Oct 29 (PTI) — The new Pakistani military rulers have begun formal proceedings against deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with a high-level joint investigation team (JIT) questioning him for his alleged involvement in the conspiracy to kill the Army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf, and others.

Fourteen days after his ouster in a bloodless coup, Mr Sharif, according to Frontier Post, was presented on Tuesday before an investigation team comprising civil and military experts for his role in denying permission to a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane carrying Gen Musharraf and 200 others to land at Karachi Airport on October 12.

The flight from Colombo was initially denied permission to land at Karachi Airport and was asked to divert to some other airport although it was running out of fuel. It is alleged that if the plane had not landed at Karachi it would have crashed resulting in the death of all those on board.

The paper said the JIT, formed to probe the incident consisting of experts from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), PIA, military officials and other agencies, is finalising a preliminary report on the role of each and every player involved in the conspiracy to deny landing to the plane.

Though the paper did not specify where the investigating team questioned Mr Sharif, it quoted sources as saying that the former Premier was still detained at a government rest house of the Army’s 111 Brigade in Rawalpindi, where he was moved from his official residence.

Meanwhile, the military regime has cancelled the import of two luxurious cars worth Rs 57 million by deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif. Official sources said the orders were placed by the ousted Premier to the Mercedes Benz company for his personal use which demonstrated the princely style of the former ruler.