RAWALPINDI, Jan 24: The Islamabad district and sessions judge on Saturday indicted Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy President MNA Makhdoom Javed Hashmi for defaming the army, inciting mutiny and forging documents, lawyers said.
The trial is being held in the Adiyala Jail.
They said judge Syed Asad Raza framed the charges against Mr Hashmi after hearing the prosecution and defence arguments for about 40 minutes.
Newsmen were barred from covering the proceedings.
People's Party Parliamentarians Senator Sardar Latif Khosa led the defence team that included Naeem Gondal and Syed Hafeezuddin. Special prosecutor Munir Ahmed Bhatti appeared for the prosecution.
Mr Khosa told Dawn that Mr Hashmi had rejected the court proceedings as "one-sided" and the defence lawyers did not recognize the jail superintendent's room as court premises, as they had challenged the jail trial before the Lahore High Court.
He said the judge rejected his request to postpone the hearing for at least a week as the LHC would hear the case on Jan 29.
He said the judge did not read out anything before the lawyers and he was not asked to sign any document, which was a prerequisite for indicting a person.
He claimed that the defence lawyers came to know about the indictment when the judge asked his reader to set the date of Feb 7 for cross-examination of witnesses.
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Mr Hashmi was arrested on Oct 29, 2003, for reading out, at a news conference, an unsigned letter allegedly sent to some parliamentarians by unknown army personnel.
His daughter, PML-N MNA Maimoona Hashmi, told newsmen that he was being tried for speaking the truth and raising voice against military rule, under laws framed by the colonial rulers.
She said freedom movement leader Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar was tried by the British government under the same laws in 1922 and since then no one had been indicted on those charges.
She said her father had been kept in solitary confinement and had not been provided A-class facilities despite court orders.
PML-N sources said the jail superintendent had informed the court that all the 12 A-class accommodations in the prison were occupied.
Ms Hashmi said she was not getting relief from any quarters.
She criticized National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain for not issuing orders for the production of Mr Hashmi in the house despite the opposition's repeated demands.
