Hearing in Sharif case adjourned for 3 weeks

Hearing in Sharif case adjourned for 3 weeks
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

ISLAMABAD, DEC 21: The special anti-terrorist court today reserved till January 12 its judgment on its jurisdiction to hear the plane hijacking case against deposed Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The special court in Karachi, headed by Justice Shabbir Ahmed of the Sindh high court, adjourned hearing for three weeks on the contention of Sharif's lawyer that the court has no jurisdiction to hear the case.

It also refused to accept a notification which the prosecution lawyer and advocate general of Sindh, Raja Qureshi, produced to counter the objection about the jurisdiction of the court.

The court said it could not accept the notification at this stage after objections raised by the defence. The notification was issued by the government on Sunday. Sharif's counsel, Batalwi, yesterday raised questions about the jurisdiction of the anti-terrorist court to hear the case pertaining to offence against the state in which a complaint by the central or the provincial government is necessary. During thecourse of argument today, Batalwi dismissed the prosecution's charge that Sharif and others were collecting arms for waging war against the state and said the prosecution should have produced the arms before the court.

He also raised objections on the delay in filing of FIR in the case and demanded to know where was Sharif kept and under what charges before being produced in court. The prosecution submitted the chargesheet before the court on December 8, but the formal indictment was delayed as it could not provide the defence with copies of all evidence, including audio and video recordings of the plane's black box. The A-G yesterday made the stunning disclosure that the black boxes were blank and all the recordings have been erased due to automated system.

Apart from Sharif, the other accused in the case are his brother Shahbaz Sharif, his former adviser on Sindh affairs Ghaus Ali Shah, former principal secretary Saeed Mehdi, former PIA chairman Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former chairman of theaccountability bureau Saifur Rehman and former police chief of Sindh Rana Maqbool.