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Plane conspiracy case Defence counsel completes Aminullah's questioning

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Ameenullah Chaudhry, former director general of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), on Thursday deposed before the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Rehmat Hussain Jafferi, that the army had seized control of the airport while Nawaz Sharif was still in power.

Chaudhry who has turned approver in the October 12 plane conspiracy case insisted that Sharif had ordered him not to allow the plane to land anywhere in Pakistan.

He said he ordered the closure of the airport and diversion of all domestic flights to an airport in the interior of Sindh to implement the orders of the former prime minister.

Chaudhry said the directives of the former prime minister were that the flight carrying Chief of Army Staff Gen. Pervez Musharraf should not be allowed to land at any airport in Pakistan.

He said when he (Chaudhry) came to know that the army was in the control tower, he asked the aviation staff to obey the orders of the army officers.

Khawaja Sultan, leading counsel for the main accused Nawaz Sharif and six others, completed the approver's questioning.

The prosecution produced the second witness, Yousuf Abbas who was the chief operations officer of Civil Aviation. He was the one who had received orders from Chaudhry at the control tower.

Abbas said when the army officers entered the control tower, they ordered him to ask the pilot to bring the plane to Karachi.

He said an army general also communicated directly with the pilot of the Pakistan International Airlines flight from the control tower.

The prosecution told reporters that the number of witnesses could be reduced to complete the trial by mid-February.

The hearing will continue on Friday.

In the October 12 plane conspiracy case, the main accused deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and six other are facing charges of hijacking the Colombo-Karachi PIA flight PK-805, terrorism and attempted murder.

The six other accused are former chief minister of the Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, former adviser to prime minister on Sindh affairs, Syed Ghous Ali Shah, former chairman of the Ehtesab Bureau, Saifur Rehman, former chief of the Pakistan International Airlines, Khaqan Abbasi, former principal secretary to prime minister, Saeed Mehdi, and former inspector general of Sindh police, Maqbool Rana.