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Gondal says Rana ordered him to arrest Musharraf

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Ahsanullah Gondal, former SP of Nawabshah, said on Saturday he was directed by Rana Maqbool Ahmed, former inspector general of Sindh police, to arrest Gen. Pervez Musharraf and lodge him in a guest house.

He was recording his statement as the fifth prosecution witness in the October 12 plane conspiracy case at the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) presided over by Judge Rehmat Hussain Jafferi.

The main accused in the case, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and six others are facing charges of hijacking the Colombo-Karachi PIA Flight 805, attempting to murder the COAS and 198 other passengers and acts of terrorism. The accused were present in the court.

The prosecution led by Barrister Zahoorul Huq and assisted by Advocate General of Sindh Raja Qureshi produced the witness before the court. Defense counsels Khawaja Sultahn, Aftab Farrukh and M. A. Malik cross-examined the witness.

Gondal said that he had instructions from the IGP to make adequate arrangements at the airport to arrest the COAS. He said it was Rukhsar Qureshi, personal staff officer of the former adviser to prime minister Syed Ghous Ali Shah, who connected him with the IGP.

Gondal said the IGP repeatedly told him that Gen. Musharraf had been removed and that the new COAS was Gen. Khawaja Ziauddin. The IGP further told him that he (IGP Rana Maqbool) and Ghous Ali Shah were acting under instructions from the former prime minister.

Gondal said that he contacted DIG Sukkur Akhtar Memon, who was also told to visit Nawabshah on the same day. "The DIG reached Nawabshah Rest House. I briefed him and passed on the orders of the IGP to Memon. Since the orders were unusual, I asked Memon to recheck the orders if he so desired".

Akhtar talked to the IGP in my presence. After the conversation with IGP, the DIG ordered that police should encircle the plane on its landing and police be posted on the stairs of the plane to ensure that nobody came out of it".

Gondal said the DIG further ordered that after refuelling the plane had to return. He said DIG ordered him to reach Nawabshah Airport, post the police force to ensure that nobody could get out of the airport.

Gondal said these orders were to be implemented through Tashkeel Haider.

Gondal deposed that he had asked the IGP that when neither any case had been registered against Gen. Pervez Musharraf in his jurisdiction nor an arrest warrant had been issued against him, how he could detain the general.

The fourth prosecution witness in the case, Air Traffic Control (ATC) officer Muhammed Asif Arain, said in his statement that he had received instructions from Wing Commander Ahmed Farooq, secretary to the DG CAA, to close the airport for all flights and confirm compliance of his orders to him on phone No. 1616.

APP adds: At about 1827 hours Wing Commander Farooq asked about the status of Airport closure. He informed him that one flight was about to land. After that the air field would be closed. The airfield was closed at 1829 hours. The information was passed on to the Shift Supervisor.

Subsequently, Muhammad Asif received a telephone call from Aqeel Ahmed, GM Air Traffic Services, regarding airfield closure. He was informed that Muhammad Asif had already received these instructions from Wing Commander Farooq. GM Aqeel Ahmed instructed him to immediately close the airfield. All the domestic and international flights excluding PIA international flight coming to Karachi had to be diverted to alternate airports. PIA International flights till further instructions had to hold over Karachi.

"At about 1810 hours on October 12, 1999, I received a telephonic call from Aminullah Chaudhry, Director General, Civil Aviation Authority, asking about the expected time of arrival (ETA) of PIA international flight. I informed him that there was no ETA of PIA flight. The DG asked me to remain standby for further instructions."

Asif said a few minutes later, Raja Latif, personal staff officer to DG CAA, asked him, "You got any information regarding airfield closure from Muhammad Abbas, chief operation officer, or from Wing Commander Farooq, secretary to DG CAA?" He replied in the negative.

He said he passed on this information to Shift Supervisor Nadeem Iqbal. A few minutes later, Nadeem Iqbal took 3-5 vehicles from the Fire Station to block the runway. At about 1834 hours Yousuf Abbas arrived at the control tower. He briefed regarding instructions received from Wing Commander Farooq. A few minutes later Anwarul Haq, Facility Operation Officer (FOO) also arrived at the control tower.

At about 1835 hours PIA flight PK 805 came into contact with radar control and informed that fuel endurance was about one hour ten minutes. "It would hold over Marvi for about 40 minutes and then proceed to alternate airport Nawabshah", the witness said.

The witness said after a few minutes CCO and FOO ordered switching off runway lights to save energy. At about 1844 hours Yusuf Abbas advised that Nawabshah Airport was closed for PK-805.

He said at about 1909 hours, the radar controller informed that fuel endurance of flight PK-805 was about 40-minutes. Yusuf Abbas at about 1911 hours allowed PK-805 to proceed to Nawabshah Airport, the witness added.

Asif said Brig. Abdul Jabbar arrived in the control tower at 1913 hours. Brig Jabbar instructed that PK-805 should land at Karachi, he added.

The witness said a few minutes later Major General Iftikhar arrived in control tower and he repeated the same instructions to Yusuf Abbas.

He said at about 1919 hours the fire vehicles were removed and runway cleared.

The witness said at about 1933 hours PK-805 came in contact with tower frequency and it was instructed to land at Karachi. The flight safely landed at 1848 hours, he added.

Muhammad Asif said, on October 12, 1999, he was performing his duties as aero controller at control tower from 1400 hours to 2200 hours.