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Sharief to be chargesheeted on Saturday

A Pakistani court today remanded the brother of ousted premier Nawaz Sharief and two ex-aides to judicial custody until Saturday when they and Sharief are expected to be charged with hijacking, a hanging offence.

The anti-terrorism court rejected a prosecution demand that the three be kept in police custody for further questioning.

The allegations stem from an incident on October 12, only hours before the military led by army chief General Pervez Musharraf overthrew the Sharief government in a bloodless coup. Attempts had allegedly been made to divert a plane bringing General Musharraf and 200 other passengers to Pakistan from Sri Lanka.

The three remanded to judicial custody today are Shahbaz Sharief, chief minister of Punjab province until the coup, Saifur Rehman, former anti-corruption czar, and Nawaz Sharief's former principal secretary Saeed Mehdi. Criminal conspiracy and attempted murder charges may also be laid, but the hijacking charge would be the most serious allegation because it can carry a death sentence.

The top prosecutor in the case, Raja Qureshi, told Reuters yesterday the trial would last a maximum of seven days.

Nawaz Sharief has told reporters he is innocent and made pleas for an open and fair trial. Pakistan has executed a former prime minister before, hanging Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1979 during the regime of the last military ruler, General Mohammad Zia-ul Haq, on a disputed conviction of conspiring to commit political murder.

Reuters

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