A lawyer for deposed Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif Tuesday urged the appeal court to summon military ruler General Pervez Musharraf to give evidence about a power struggle that led to the October coup.
"If General Musharraf's first speech after the coup on October 12 is the case against Sharif, as stated by the prosecution, he must appear as a complainant and record his statement," barrister Azizullah Sheikh said.
Musharraf should be called to tell about the power struggle between him and Sharif, Sheikh said, arguing the tussle commenced amid a border conflict in the Kargil region of the disputed state of Kashmir last year and culminated with Sharif's ouster.
Sharif was convicted by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi on April 6 for trying to prevent the landing in Pakistan of a jet carrying Musharraf and 198 passengers from Sri Lanka.
Shortly before the coup, Sharif had replaced Musharraf by general Khwaja Ziauddin as the country's army chief.
"I have to seek instruction from the government before giving any reply to the defence application," Chief prosecutor Raja Qureshi told the Sindh High Court.
The court is hearing the prosecution's arguments in Sharif's appeal against a sentence of life imprisonment imposed for hijacking and terrorism.
Sheikh informed the court that he had not received any instructions from Sharif but has moved the application on the basis of arguments from the prosecution side.
Public prosecutor Zahoorul Haq, during the hearing last week said Musharraf's first speech on the night of the coup was in fact the first report of the case in which he had given details of the delay in the landing of his plane at Karachi airport.
"Musharraf should tell the court the reasons for the delay in landing of the plane," Sheikh said.
The defense has also requested the court to record statements from several other army officers including General Ziauddin, General Iftikhar Khan, General Tariq Pervaz, General Mohammad Akram, General Salim Haider.
"All these army officers are witness to the power struggle and their statements will be important in this case as well as for the history," Sheikh added.
The court is to fix a date for hearing both sides before deciding on the application -- KARACHI (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
