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Hijacking case against Nawaz Sharief abruptly halted

Hasan Zaidi in Karachi

General Pervez Musharraf's military government and the prosecution in the case against deposed Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharief were dealt a major setback today when the administrative judge conducting pre-trial proceedings refused to continue hearing the case and cast doubts on the fairness of the trial.

In an unprecedented development, the courtroom of Sindh high court Justice Shabbir Ahmed erupted in pandemonium after one of the accused claimed the government was not following the court's orders with regard to living conditions in prison and claimed that intelligence sleuths were eavesdropping on defence counsel even in court.

When the judge took note of this and ordered the arrest of a man in plain clothes identified by defence counsel, a commotion broke out in court. Sharief's Pakistan Muslim League party activists tried to identify more undercover intelligence personnel whom they alleged were present in court.

In the ensuing commotion, Judge Ahmed suspended the proceedings and announced, "I cannot hear this case." Subsequently, he issued a two-line reason for reverting the case back to the anti-terrorism court of Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffrey which had begun hearing the matter before the government made it compulsory for a high court judge to serve as presiding judge.

"I will not permit intelligence people in plain clothes in my court," Justice Ahmed announced. "I cannot provide a fair trial in these circumstances."

The case, whose hearing had resumed after a gap of 20 days because of the winter and Eid holidays, has now been postponed till Monday, January 17. No official charges have yet been framed by the court, partly because of an ongoing legal wrangle over the provision of documentary evidence to the defence.

The case itself centres around the events of October 12 when a Pakistan International Airlines plane carrying General Musharraf back to Pakistan from Sri Lanka was refused landing at Karachi airport even as then PM Sharief attempted to sack the chief of army staff in his absence. The flight finally managed to land at Karachi airport, allegedly dangerously low on fuel, but only after the army had taken over the air control tower.

After Sharief's government was removed in a coup, the deposed premier and some of his colleagues were charged with attempted hijacking of the aircraft, kidnapping, endangering the lives of the 200-odd people on board, and of waging war against the Pakistan State.

The prosecution was in obvious disarray after Wednesday's events, but tried to put up a brave face, claiming it would go ahead and prove its charges before the new court.

Defence counsel, on the other hand, were upbeat. Sharief reiterated that the judge's statement proved what he had been claiming all along, that this was not a fair and free trial.

Earlier, Justice Ahmed had dismissed the defence petition challenging the police's jurisdiction to register a charge of 'waging war against the State.' The judge had held that the police were well within their rights to register such a case. Perhaps more significantly, whereas the administrative high court judge could potentially have tried the case himself, the defence will now have to contend once again with an anti-terrorism judge from the lower courts.

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