Islamabad, Nov 15: The hereabouts of former Pakistan Prime Minister were unclear on Monday as the Karachi police said that the former PM was not in their custody while there was no official word as to where Sharif was being kept.On Sunday, an international news agency said that Sharif had been shifted to Karachi a day earlier but there was no official comment on this.Police told a judge in Karachi on Monday that the ousted Pakistani prime minister was not in their custody.Sharif has been under detention at a secret location, thought to be near Islamabad, since the military coup that overthrew his government on October 12. Police said last week they expected he would be moved to Karachi on Monday.``When the issue was raised by Nawaz Sharif's lawyer, the police simply said that he has not been arrested by them,'' said an official of the Anti-Terrorist Court.The official, who asked not to be identified, said the police did not say when Sharif would be brought to the court or formally arrested.The court hearing was the first since a senior military officer filed a formal complaint last Wednesday accusing Sharif and four others of criminal conspiracy, hijacking - which carries a maximum punishment of death -kidnapping and attempted murder.The accusations followed an alleged attempt to divert a plane bringing military chief General Pervez Musharraf to Karachi from Sri Lanka after Sharif announced Musharraf's dismissal. Hours later, Musharraf overthrew Sharif in the bloodless coup.Sharif's lawyer Iqbal Raad told reporters that the police gave the court no evidence and did not say where Sharif was.``Police have nothing against Sharif. They have nothing against him to link him to this case,'' Raad said.Public prosecutor Feroz Mehmood Bhatti said Sharif would be brought to the court only after he is formally arrested by police in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province.``He has not been arrested yet so there is no question of telling the court about evidence against him,'' Bhatti said.The four others accused with Sharif were formally arrested on Saturday and brought to the court on Monday.Police requested custody of them so they could be interrogated, and the court said it would rule on the request later on Monday.The four are Ghous Ali Shah, former adviser to Sharif and de-facto chief executive of Sindh province, former Pakistan International Airlines chairman Shahid Khakan Abbasi, former Civil Aviation Authority chairman Aminullah Chaudhry and former Sindh police chief Rana Maqbool.A special anti-terrorist court in Karachi remanded for three days the four accused, and Judge Rehmatullah Jaffry has granted physical remand of the accused in policy custody under the request of the prosecutors.The four accused, dressed in traditional Shalwar Kameez (a traditional local dress) suits, were brought to the court under tight security in four cars with tinted windows, escorted by dozens of armed personnel carriers.The four, together with Sharif, are accused of conspiracy to murder, kidnapping and attempting to hijack a plane on October 12.``These allegation are wrong,'' Ghous Ali Shah was quoted as saying by News Network Intentional, a local private news agency.``It is stretching too much. We haven't done anything like this. We have complete faith in Allah Almighty. This is the use of force,'' he said.The men later told reporters that they were innocent.However, a formal plea will be entered in court at a later date, which so far has not been announced.
