'Military pressurised Sharif to rescind dismissal of Musharraf'

ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif, who was deposed in a military coup as Pakistan's Prime Minister, has claimed that he rejected the army's pressure to revoke the dismissal
of Pervez Musharraf as army chief as also to resign from his post, saying "over my dead body."

In a book about him titled 'Jila Watan Wazir-i-Azam' (Exiled Prime Minister) released here on Friday, Sharif said a senior military official approached him after the Oct 12,
1999 coup with documents to revoke orders to dismiss Musharraf as army chief and recommend dissolution of the National Assembly and resign as Premier.

He refused to sign the documents, saying "over my dead body," according to the book written in Urdu by Saeed Elahi.

The then Corps Commander of Rawalpindi Gen Mahmood threatened him with dire consequences for "disobeying the orders," it said.

Sharif was later convicted for life by an anti-terrorism court for preventing the plane of Musharraf from Colombo to land in Karachi on the day of the military coup. He was subsequently exiled along with his family to Jeddah.

Launching the book, Chairman of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) Raja Zafarul Haq demanded formation of a commission to probe the Kargil conflict thoroughly.

The characters responsible for the misadventure should be unmasked and awarded punishment, Dawn daily quoted him as saying. Many former members of PML-N who currently support Musharraf had backed demands for an inquiry on Kargil, he added.

Haq said many revelations have been made in the book, but certain important aspects remained untouched such as the Kargil incident, who initiated it and what loss it caused to Pakistan's interests.

The new book on Sharif deals with various aspects of the military take-over and the dismissal of his government, his implication in a treason case and life in exile in Saudi
Arabia.

In another book 'Gaddar Kaun' (Who is the Traitor), a biography of Sharif written by Pakistan journalist Shail Warriach, the former Premier dealt extensively with Kargil and
accusing Musharraf of launching it without even informing him.

Musharraf-- who countered Sharif's charges by showing photos of him attending a briefing in Northern Areas from where Kargil war was launched-- is releasing his own book 'In the Line of Fire' in New York on Sept 25.

Haq said Sharif had been implicated in a "fabricated" plane hijacking case and it was evident from the proceedings of the case. The witness statement of the captain of the plane had not been recorded and the voices from the black box had been erased before the same was played in the court, he said.

All six others accused in the case were acquitted and Sharif was the only one to be convicted, the PML-N leader said, adding, "how can a single person hatch a conspiracy. You need to have at least two people for it."

Haq also pointed out that the Judge of Anti-Terrorism Court Rahmat Hussain Jafri had said he was not awarding death penalty to Sharif as he had not taken the initiative.

Referring to the house arrest of A Q Khan and killing of Akbar Bugti, he said an individual has no right to declare someone as traitor or issue certificates of patriotism.

He said 19 grand-sons of Akbar Bugti were still under the custody of intelligence agencies, with their whereabouts unknown to the family members. It is also not clear that they were still alive or had been killed, he added.