Pakistan's deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif is likely to be shifted to Karachi in the next few days to stand trial to be conducted in the provincial capital of Sindh, informed sources said on November 11.

Sharif and four others were formally booked at an anti-terrorist court in Karachi late Wednesday night on charges of attempted murder and hijacking a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft on October 12 as well as "criminal conspiracy and common intent."

The former prime minister and some of his close allies have been kept in custody at unknown places since the army dismissed the civilian government in a coup on October 12.

The army authorities are making arrangements for the venue of the trial and Sharif will probably be brought in a special army plane under tight security of commandos to Karachi, said the sources.

Along with the deposed prime minister, others indicted were former adviser to him for Sindh affairs Ghous Ali Shah, ex-chairman of PIA Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former director general of Civil Aviation Authority Aminullah Chaudhry and former inspector general of Sindh police Rana Maqbool Ahmed.

The case was registered on the complaint of Lt. Colonel Atiquzzaman Kiani of five corps Headquarters under certain Pakistani penal laws.

According to legal experts, some of the charges carry the death penalty under the laws.

Lt. Colonel Kiani in his complaint maintained that PIA flight PK-805, coming from Colombo, with Chief of the Army Staff General Pervaiz Musharraf and over 200 other passengers on board, was denied landing at the Karachi Airport.

All lights and signals to escort the plane were turned off at the tarmac and barricades erected on the runway to prevent it from landing at the airport. The aircraft was about to run short of fuel and could fly for another seven minutes only when it finally landed safely after the army controlled the airport.