Sharif, who made his first public appearance since the October 12 coup amidst tight security, told Judge Rehman Hussain Jaffrey of the Anti-Terrorism Court that he was not aware of the charges during over a month's detention and had nothing to do with those charges, according to court officials present during the proceedings.

He, however, said that he had not been tortured during his detention: ``I have had everything but tortured (sic),'' he said, but complained that he had not been given any facility including access to television, newspapers and was not even allowed to meet his lawyer.

Sharif also told the court that no police official contacted him during his detention for questioning on the charges. After the 40-minute in-cameraproceedings, Sharif, along with the four other accused in the hijacking case, was remanded to police custody till November 22.

The other accused are Sharif's former adviser on Sind affairs Ghaus Ali Shah, former PIA chairman Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former director general of Civil Aviation Aminullah Choudhury and former Inspector General of police of Sindh Rana Maqbool.

The judge ordered filing of charges against Sharif by November 26.

More arrests are likely in the case against Sharif, a prosecutor told an anti-terrorism court here today.

Sharif appeared to be heading for more trouble as the Supreme Court ordered him to appear before it on December 7 in a contempt case relating to the storming of the Apex Court on November 28, 1997, allegedly by leaders and supporters of his Pakistan Muslim League (PML) during a hearing in a contempt proceeding against him.

A full bench of the Supreme Court, comprising nine judges and headed by Chief Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, after hearing a petition filed by afreelance journalist Shahid Orakzai on the issue, asked Sharif and the then chief commissioner of Islamabad to appear before the court.

The case was closed after a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, though called the incident the most flagrant violation of the decorum of the court, acquitted all the seven accused, six of them PML parliamentarians, for lack of evidence.

Orakzai had filed the petition arguing that chief justice was not in the bench which decided such a crucial issue and that the government itself was the prosecutor in the case which was not fair.

Meanwhile, clad in traditional salwar kameez with a dark blue waist-coat, Sharif told reporters while leaving the court that he did not conspire any hijacking.

``Hijacking is done at gun-point. In this case, the whole democratic government has been hijacked,'' he said while getting into an armoured personnel carrier. Sharif, who appeared healthy and unhurt, said, ``I am okay,'' when queried about his health.