Sharif still a convict in plane hijacking case

Lahore, June 9 (ANI): Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has not been pardoned in connection with the October 1999 plane hijacking case, The Daily Times reports.

Quoting a presidential document, which would be tabled before the Supreme Court soon, the newspaper said that while a court verdict has exempted Sharif from serving a sentence in the case, his convict status has not changed.

Sharif, as a deposed Prime Minister,was convincted on a charge of hijacking by the Sindh High Court after he ordered that an aircraft bringing the then Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf from Sri Lanka, should not be allowed to land in Karachi.

He was subsequently dismissed and given a life sentence which was commuted after he agreed to go into exile in Saudi Arabia.

Sharif was also disqualified from contesting elections because of his conviction in the plane hijacking case, but later the Supreme Court quashed the verdict, and declared him eligible for contesting elections. (ANI)