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Accused 'forced' to turn against Sharief

Pakistan's former director general of civil aviation Aminullah Chowdhary has reportedly said that he had turned approver in the Pakistan International Airlines hijacking case, in which deposed premier Nawaz Sharief is one of the accused, because of terrible pressure brought on him.

The mental pressure he was subjected to would have led him to suicide, Chowdhary was quoted as saying.

The Daily News said that Chowdhary could be tried if he backs out of the deal he had entered into with the prosecution.

He had deposed before a Karachi court that Sharief had ordered him not to let the PIA flight carrying army chief Pervez Musharraf and 200 others to land at the Karachi airport.

Meanwhile, a US-based human rights group has said that Sharief cannot get a fair trial under the present anti-terrorism law.

The law which was ironically enacted by Sharief's government to control violence has been used selectively against political opponents earlier by the deposed prime minister and now by the military regime, director-general of Human Rights Watch (Asia) Mike Jendrzejezyk said.

He said the law infringes on the civil liberties and due process of law, and urged the present regime in Islamabad to amend it so that Sharief's trial ''could conform to international fair standards''.

UNI

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