(The American embassy on September 6 denied any US involvement in the assassination of former president General Zia-ul Haq. This article, however, was received by The News before the denial was issued.--Editor)
1. Twenty-one years ago, on August 17, a C-130 aircraft of the PAF, known for its established standards/records of stability and safety, was made the target of sabotage and subversive act of terrorism. By employing the process of elimination, it was established by the Board of Enquiry that there was no doubt about the cause of crash.
2. In addition to the 29 military martyrs, two US nationals -- Ambassador Arnold Raphel and Brigadier General Herbert Wassom -- were killed. Pakistan's top military hierarchy was eliminated. The mystery is that the Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS), General Aslam Beg, having himself hovered over the disaster site, preferred to fly back to Rawalpindi. Major General Mehmud Durrani, the host of the whole episode, moved to Multan for a comfortable sleep.
3. Now, claiming credit for democracy and decorated with the democracy medal, General Aslam Beg did not feel obliged to care for the fallen comrades. Without knowing about the survivors and the urge to take over, he rushed to Rawalpindi where in a high-level meeting, he faced tough resistance.
4. The mortal remains were shifted to CMH, Multan. The doctors performed a post-mortem on Brig Gen Wassom which revealed that he had died in air before the plane hit the ground. For the rest of the victims, the doctors were stopped from conducting the post-mortem. If done, it could have determined the cause of their death. The Board of Inquiry confirmed the presence of sulphur, antimony and other lethal chemical agents on the damaged parts of the wreckage. It is also suspected that some odourless, poisonous gases were leaked inside the cockpit rendering the crew unconscious. That is how, it is deduced, no May Day signals were received at the control tower.
5. US law requires mandatory FBI investigation into the killing of any US national in any part of the world. In this case, when the FBI team was about to leave for Pakistan, it was mysteriously stopped by the US Secretary of State. It is also surprising that the team, which had already arrived to assist in the investigation, was without any formal request by the Government of Pakistan.
6. Ten months after the crash, an FBI team of only three Americans, without an air-accident expert or forensic expert, arrived. It only recorded the verbal statements of a few concerned individuals without any worthwhile effort to go into detailed investigations. By then, the PPP had come to power and it was futile to expect any cooperative move from the government. Colonel (retd) Ghulam Sarwar Cheema, Minister of State for Defence, in response to a question about the outcome, replied that anyone interested in knowing the outcome of the investigations should call Allah directly. Such was the callous attitude of the government functionaries responsible for conducting the investigation.
7. The FBI team which had arrived, as mentioned above, was found to be without any explicit mandate by both the US and Pakistani governments. The team was handed over a list of 25 individuals who should have been questioned for their possible involvement in the criminal act but none of them were confronted. After a trip to Taxila and Murree, the team finally left.
8. In 1979, Zulfiqar Ali (ZA) Bhutto, the executed leader of the PPP, in one of his writings had threatened that "If I am assassinated, my sons will take revenge." Even before his hanging, his sons and siblings formed a terrorist network "Al-Zulfiqar" (AZO) which carried out a series of terrorist attacks in the country. Die-hard political workers and estranged youth were recruited in its ranks and taken to India, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria for terrorist training. One such draft was arrested by the Pakistan Navy when found voyaging towards the Indian shores. AZO had gained strength and capabilities, and had effectively joined hands with RAW, Mossad, KGB, Afghan Intelligence and any other outfit willing to weaken Pakistan. It fired a missile on the president's aircraft at Rawalpindi but was unable to hit the target. Another aircraft was hijacked from Kabul and Damascus. From the manifest, Murtaza Bhutto singled out Major Tariq Rahim, had him killed and threw the dead body onto the tarmac at Kabul Airport. This ill-fated officer was the son of a retired general and had served as ADC to Murtaza's father. Traveling together in a car, Chaudhry Zahoor Ellahi and Justice Maulvi Mushtaq were ambushed at Lahore. The latter was Chief Justice, Lahore High Court, who presided over the trial of ZA Bhutto and awarded him the death sentence. In the attack, Chaudhry Zahoor Ellahi was killed while the Chief Justice sustained serious injuries.
9. Soon after the destruction of Pak-I and its passengers, Murtaza Bhutto claimed that the AZO was responsible for the crime, but detracted his claim when he came to know about the killing of American nationals.
10. General Zia-ul Haq lived and died for Islam. Having defeated and disintegrated the Soviet Union, he was dreaming of translating Muslim unity into one ummah. This would have caused alarm for those who didn't want this. The plant at Kahuta, still in its infancy, needed to be nursed. Given his patriotism, commitment and aspirations, President Zia-ul Haq was a willing donor. Pakistan, under him, could not be deterred from pursuing the nuclear path. Soviet Union's festering wounds could not be cured without the healing touch of the one who bled its nose.
11. The Soviet Union, through its Friendship and Defence Treaty with India, had broken Pakistan into two. Zia-ul Haq had paid back to the Soviets in the same coins and was determined to pay back the Indians.
12. Rajiv Gandhi had asked Pakistan that to stop interfering in the Khalistan Movement or else it would repent for generations. The Soviets resolved to punish Pakistan for its defeat. Pakistan, under Mr Bhutto during his last days in office, was about to be annexed with the Soviet Block. There was a strong nexus with Syria, Libya and Palestinian leaders trying to woo Pakistan to the Soviet Union. The game plan was reversed under General Zia-ul Haq. It could not have pleased the Soviets, being a global hegemonic power. Israel could not remain aloof and unconcerned from the emerging potential threat of Islamic revival. The vested interests in the region could not sit back and watch the fast-changing scenario in the global context. John H. Dean, a Jew and then US Ambassador to India, testified to Israel's involvement in the crash. He was later declared insane and sent to Switzerland for recovery and recuperation. Israel's involvement, by logic, means American consent, and Indian connivance and collaboration.
13. An interesting fact about Mr Dean is that he suspected that Israeli agents may have also been involved in the mysterious plane crash in 1988 that killed Pakistan's President General Zia-ul Haq. Later, he was rehabilitated by the State Department, given a distinguished service medal and the insanity charge was said to be fake by a former head of the department's medical service.
14. Various commissions were formed by the government to investigate the disaster without pin-pointing the criminals who had destabilised Pakistan via sabotage. No discreet Inquiry or criminal investigations were ordered by the then COAS who quickly covered up the tragedy. Justice Shafiur Rehman himself mentioned to me that the debris of the ill-fated C-130 had been removed and disposed off from the hanger, thus denying any examination/evidence. General Zia-ul Haq was a human and all humans have friends and foes just the way Brutus carried a knife while being in attendance in Caesar's court. What services did Major General Mahmud Durrani render (late) Benazir Bhutto so that even after her death, he could was not left unrewarded, and was made the National Security Advisor?
(To be continued)
The writer is a former minister for religious affairs. Email: ulhaq.ijaz@ gmail.com
