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Plane hijack case Defence continues arguments

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The defence counsel in the October 12 plane conspiracy case, Khwaja Sultan, said on Saturday that the plane, PK-805, was under the control of Gen. Pervez Musharraf and he could have ordered its landing either at the Faisal Base or at the Masroor Base if the Karachi airport was closed.

Presenting his arguments on the second day in the plane conspiracy case Sultan said that according to PW9, Captain Sarwar, from 7 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. the plane was under the control of General Pervez Musharraf and he could have asked the pilot to land at any of the two airfields under the control of Air Force.

"On the one hand there was Gen. Iftikhar and on the other Gen. Pervez Musharraf. If the plane was refused landing at the Karachi airport, he could have safely landed either at Masroor or Faisal," said Sultan.

The defence counsel said that Gen. Musharraf never wanted to land unless there was assurance that he would not be arrested. He wanted to be sure of the Armed Forces' help. The general was not sure of support from the Air Force.

The option to go to Ahmedabad was discarded because if the plane "goes there it would be shot down," he added.

The defence counsel said that Gen. Iftikhar ordered the pilot to come back to Karachi, while the plane was half way to Nawabshah. "It was at this point that Gen. Pervez Musharraf said that he wanted to talk to Gen. Iftikhar. When Gen. Iftikhar cleared, Gen. Musharraf asked the pilot to land.

Sultan said, "He (pilot) acted on the instructions of the general who was in the plane. There was another general on the ground. The pilot acted on the instructions of the army. So it is clear that Gen. Musharraf was behind the captain. The captain was not following the instructions of the air traffic control".

The defence counsel also said that Gen. Iftikhar knew at least two hours earlier that Gen. Musharraf had been retired and Gen. Ziauddin was the new chief of army staff. There was complete defiance of legal orders. "The purpose was to frustrate implementation of legal orders. "So one section of the army was against another section of the army," he added.

Sultan said that it was yet to be decided and settled whether there was any conspiracy in the real sense. "I want to suggest that in most of the cases there is no direct evidence of conspiracy and that is to be gathered on circumstantial evidences. But here in this case we have only Aminnullah Chaudhry who can give direct evidence regarding conspiracy charges.

He said it was a well established principle of law, if charges of conspiracy were lavelled, it was expedient for the prosecution to establish the fact and provide the evidence to substantiate it. In this case the prosecution had built up the case on intentions. "We do not know where the intentions were found."

Sultan said that the approver, Aminnullah Chaudhary, had not at any stage said that he knew the conspiracy before 6 p.m. "My submission is that the source of direct conspiracy is silent on this point", he added

Court: what about the telephone operator, Asif?

Counsel: He says there was one call between the PM House and the DG CAA, and other calls to MD PTV, Chairman PIA, Commander Zahid. "But there is no record to show what was discussed. The approver at no stage has said that anyone, other than Nawaz Sharif, contacted him. Here is a case where we cannot proceed on presumptions. It involves many people."

Sultan said that he had reached a stage where he could say that "he (Nawaz Sharif) never directed the aircraft to proceed to Nawabshah or leave the country." The witnesses such as Yousuf Abbas (PW2), Asif (PW4), Mohammad Asif (PW15), Aqeel (PW15), and Manzoor Ahmed (PW13) were all accomplices of Aminnullah Chaudhry and had recorded overlapping statements and their evidences could not be taken as corroborative evidences as these had not been supported by independent evidences."

Sultan said all the PWs had said that that they had received instructions from the DG CAA, regarding closure of the airport, diversion of the flight from Karachi to Nawabshah, blockade of the airport, refusal to land anywhere in Pakistan or permission to come back.

Khwaja Sultan readout extensively from the statements of the PWs in support of his arguments.

The arguments of the defence were continuing when the court adjourned the hearing for March 27, 1999.

All the accused were present in the court, whese they met their family members.