From www.thestatesman.org
Fire engines blocked Musharraf jet path'
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE and DEUTSCHE PRESS AGENTUR KARACHI,
Feb. 4, 2000 — Three fire engines were used to block the Karachi runway to prevent a commercial jet carrying Gen Pervez Musharraf and 198 others from landing on 12 October, a witness said at Mr Nawaz Sharif's trial today.
"We were ordered on the radio to park fire vehicles on the runway. We used three vehicles to block the runway," Mr Asadullah Sheikh, the airport fire superintendent, testified. "Lights on the runway were also switched off." But, he added, he was ordered to clear the runway at 7:20 p.m. (local time).
Mr Sheikh said he was called out by the emergency bell at 6:18 p.m. on the night of the coup. An air traffic control official ordered him to block the runway. The fire trucks stayed on the runway for 40 minutes before being called back, Mr Sheikh said.
Another prosecution witness, Mr Bashir Memon, a senior police superintendent, told how top police officers were ordered to bring armoured personnel carriers to the airport that night and to stop the plane from landing. Mr Memon said Mr Maqbool, ordered all senior superintendents to the airport at around 6:35 p.m. There he met Syed Ghaus Ali Shah, Mr Sharif's chief adviser for Sindh. Both Mr Maqbool and Mr Shah are on trial alongside Mr Sharif. "When we reached the airport VIP lounge, Ghaus Ali Shah was asking could they take over the airport. Rana Maqbool said: 'it is an order from the top. The chief general is coming and he is not allowed to land and we have to provide protection for the civil aviation and airport people," he said.
But when the men [?Shah and Maqbool?] realised the army were at the airport and taking control they quickly left, he said. Mr Sharif had just sacked Gen Musharraf, and the prosecution said in trying to stop him returning to Pakistan, Mr Sharif endangered the lives of the 198 people on board the plane. Gen Musharraf only landed after the army took over Karachi airport. Within hours he had seized control of the country and made himself chief executive of Pakistan. Defence lawyers insist Mr Sharif and the others are innocent and acted only after the army launched a coup. The hearing is to resume next Wednesday, with more witnesses scheduled to testify, prosecution lawyers said.
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