The New York Times

Thursday, December 9, 1999

Ousted Pakistan Leader Charged With Treason and Other Crimes

By BARRY BEARAK

KARACHI, Pakistan -- Prosecutors on Wednesday formally charged the ousted prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and six others with hijacking, kidnapping, attempted murder and plotting to wage war against the state.

A judge in a special anti-terrorism court then scheduled a hearing for Monday, when he will probably accept pleas and set a trial date. If convicted, Sharif and the others could face the death penalty.

"We barely know what is happening to us," the deposed prime minister said weakly after asking Judge Shabbir Ahmed for a chance to address the court at the end of the session. "We have been kept totally out of touch. It is a travesty."

Sharif was clean-shaven and dressed in a well-pressed suit and gray waistcoat. But he complained that he was still being kept in solitary confinement in a cramped cell, even after the court ordered improved quarters last week.

"My room is barely able to accommodate a small bed, there is not even room for a prayer mat," he said, adding that he has been unable to meet with his lawyers, his wife or even his younger brother Shahbaz, a co-defendant who is being held in the same jail

Under Pakistani law, Sharif, as a dignitary, is entitled to what is known as a "superior class" cell that has more space and a television.

Ahmed asked a prosecutor, Raja Qureshi, why better facilities had not been provided. Dissatisfied with the answers, he warned that if the defendants again complained of mistreatment, he would "depute a commission" to inspect the lockup.

This was the second testy exchange between the judge and Qureshi, the first being about the prosecution's failure to provide transcripts of vital audio tapes.

The case against the defendants stems from the circumstances of the coup on Oct. 12. The prime minister is accused of trying to prevent the safe landing of a commercial jet that was en route to Karachi and carrying Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the army chief of staff whom Sharif had dismissed hours earlier. Musharraf has cited the incident as the reason for the military's takeover of the government that day.

Key evidence in the case are tapes said to contain Sharif's orders to the air control tower. The plane, with 198 aboard, was allowed to touch down in Karachi only after the army seized control of the airport. The aircraft, according to prosecutors, was by then so dangerously low of fuel that a catastrophe was avoided by mere minutes.

"We cannot have a fair trial if you expect to take the defendants by surprise with evidence," Ahmed said, chastising Qureshi about the missing transcripts.

The anti-terrorism courts were set up last year by Sharif himself. He had been dissatisfied with by sluggish judicial proceedings in many high-profile cases. The new system could shorten the time from arrest to execution to a matter of months -- or even weeks.

The ousted prime minister now faces his own rapid-fire jurisprudence, though the prosecution itself found several reasons to delay the filing of formal charges.

Last week, another delay was caused when the government changed the law for anti-terrorism trial, requiring that a high court judge preside.

On trial along with the ousted prime minister are his brother Shahbaz, the former chief minister of Sindh province; Saifur Rehman, Saeed Mehdi and Syed Ghous Ali, three of Nawaz Sharif's closest advisers; Khaqan Abbasi, the former head of Pakistan's state airline; and Rana Maqbool, the former Sindh police chief.