A court on Wednesday formally charged five US citizens for plotting terrorist attacks in Pakistan, their defence attorney said, DPA reported.
All five men, believed to be in their 20s, were arrested in December in Sargodha, a dusty town in Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab, days after they had arrived from the eastern US state of Virginia.
Defence lawyer Hassan Katchela said his clients pleaded not guilty to all six counts against them, including planning to commit acts of terrorism in Pakistan, when an anti-terrorism court in Sargodha indicted them Wednesday.
"It has fixed March 31 for the next hearing and asked the prosecutors to come up with evidence to start the trial," Katchela said.
At least one of the charges related to incitement and abetment of terrorism carries a life sentence in Pakistan.
Two of the five Americans accused are of Pakistani origin and the three others are of Egyptian, Yemeni and Eritrean descent. The families of the suspects reported them missing in November.