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Nawaz Sharief, others formally indicted

Yahya Durrani in Karachi

Deposed Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharief and six other accused were finally officially indicted in court today on charges of hijacking a commercial airliner, kidnapping, attempted murder and creating fear and terror.

The charges of "waging war against the state" and "criminal conspiracy" against the accused were, however, dropped by the court in the formal chargesheet.

The framing of charges in the Anti-Terrorism Court of Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffrey mean that the trial of the six accused -- which has been delayed by legal wrangling over the court's jurisdiction and key evidence -- can now formally open. The court will begin hearing the case on Wednesday, January 26.

Although the law stipulates for the case to be completed within seven working days, most people expect it to drag on much beyond that period.

The case centres around the events of October 12 which preceded the military coup that toppled the Muslim League government of Nawaz Sharief.

Sharief is accused, along with his brother Shahbaz Sharief (the former chief minister of the Punjab), his chief federal secretary, his political adviser for Sindh, his anti-corruption chief, the then Sindh Inspector-General of Police and the former head of Pakistan International Airlines, of refusing landing rights to a PIA flight carrying Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf, thereby endangering the lives of the 200-odd passengers on board.

Hijacking, kidnapping and terrorism charges, if proved, can result in the death penalty or a life in prison.

The judge stopped the dispute over the defence lawyers being provided with tapes of the conversation between the cockpit and the control tower, ruling that the trial could not be held up further because of the delay.

Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffrey ruled that the tapes did not fall under the strict definition of pre-trial "documents" to be provided to the defence under the relevant clause of the Anti Terrorism Act. Transcripts of the recorded conversations have already been supplied to the defence.

"The case is now ripe for framing of charges," the judge observed.

In response to the official reading out of the charges, all the accused pleaded not guilty to all of them. After pleading not guilty, Nawaz Sharief also took a swipe at the man who toppled him.

"It is not I who hijacked the plane but the Chief of Army Staff who hijacked the plane," he said in court. "It is he who has hijacked the democratically-elected government of Pakistan."

Although it could not delay the trial further, the defence scored a victory of sorts when the judge dropped contentious charges relating to treason against the state and criminal conspiracy for lack of sufficient evidence. The prosecution can still reintroduce the charges once it presents enough evidence to back them up. But defence lawyers are already crowing that this validates their view that these charges don't hold water.

"We believe the prosecution has a weak case," says Khwaja Majid Sultan, one of the defence lawyers.

"We don't think the charges will stand up." On the other hand, with the framing of charges, the court has at least indicated that there is a sufficient case for Nawaz Sharief's lawyers to answer.

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