ISLAMABAD – Denying their hand in the killing of former Pakistan militaryruler Gen. Muhamamd Ziaulhaq, two former generals of the Pakistan army havedrawn divergent conclusions on the reasons behind the plane crash.
In an exclusive interview with the Anadolu Agency, Muhammad Ijazulhaq,former Pakistani minister and son of Ziaulhaq had blamed the former ArmyChief Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, former National Security Advisor Gen. MahmoodAli Durrani for conspiring to bring down the C-130 plane on Aug. 17, 1988.
The crash killed the country’s president along with five military officersand the U.S. Ambassador Arnold Lewis Raphel.
Beg said he had pressed several times for a proper inquiry during histenure as army chief. But the government did not pay attention to hisrequests.
“It was not an accident but sabotage. All indications are pointing towardsthat,” he told Anadolu Agency.
But Durrani, who was heading the Multan division that hosted Ziaulhaq towatch the trial of American tanks in deserts of Bahawalpur, said he did notbelieve in the sabotage theory.
Both these generals appeared divided over whether the crash was an”accident” or a “sabotage”.
Durrani insisted that the plane crash was simply an accident, resultingfrom a “technical fault”.
On Ijazulhaq’s allegations about his role in the conspiracy, the formerarmy chief Beg said he did not feel fit to respond to them. He alsoreminded that he had played a role in the smooth transition of power to acivilian government.
“I was the one who held the elections, and handed over the country’s reignsto a democratic government instead of imposing a martial law,” Beg saidreferring to November 1988 general elections, which were held just threemonths after Ziaulhaq’s death.
“If I were involved in any conspiracy then how did it benefit me?” he asked.
“I did not impose the martial law despite pressure [from within the army].I did not even accept extension in my tenure as the army chief. Then, whywould I be involved in a conspiracy, which did not benefit me in any way,”he said.
Beg served as army chief from 1988-1991.
He, however, said he had strong reasons to believe in the involvement ofthe Central Investigation Agency (CIA) of the U.S.
Referring to the death of U.S. envoy also in the crash, he said the CIA isused to find a scapegoat to hide behind.
Beg further mentioned that an internal inquiry conducted by the militaryintelligence during his tenure had also raised suspicion about the role ofCIA. But he refused to part further details of the internal inquiry.
Durrani dismisses sabotage theory
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But Durrani disagreed with the Beg’s conclusion. He described the entireconspiracy theory as “childish”.
Ijazulhaq in his interview had stated that there was evidence that mangocrates loaded on the plane carried explosives. He also claimed that nervegas was also pumped into the cabin to maim pilots, besides a projectivealso from outside, to leave nothing to chance.
Durrani said, all these theories have been cooked up. “My theory has no funor gossip. But the reality is that it was purely a technical error, whichled to that unfortunate accident,” he told Anadolu Agency.
“It was not the first time the C-130 had developed a technical error. Iremember it [C-130] had twice developed technical faults at Karachi andChitral [northwestern tourist resort] airports, months before the crash.And, I had accompanied him [Ziaulhaq] on both occasions,” he said.
Describing Ijazulhaq’s allegations baseless, Durrani, who served in thearmy from 1961-1998 said it was not possible to force the president, whowas also army chief to inspect the field trial of tanks.
“Ziaulhaq was not a kid, he was the president and the army chief. How couldI force or lure him to go where he did not want to,” said Durrani, who alsoserved as the country’s National Security Adviser from May 2008 to January2009.
Ijazulhaq also claimed that Durrani had called 16 times to convince hisfather to fly to Bahawalpur.
“It was purely Gen. Zia’s [Ziaulhaq] decision to witness field trials oftanks. It had been decided in a meeting of the corps commanders. It is verymuch on record,” he said.
He also refused allegation that he had called Ziaulhaq 16 times.
“This is a lie. I had called him only twice a few days before he visitedBahawalpur,” he added.
Charging Ijazulhaq for playing politics, Durrani said: “If he (Ijazulhaq)were serious, he would have pressed for the investigation of his choice.”
Ijazulhaq has served as a federal minister under former President Gen.Pervez Musharraf and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Durrani, however, supported Ijazulhaq’s demand for making the report ofJustice Shafi-ur-Rehman Commission public.
“This is unfortunate that not only Justice Shafi-ur-Rehman Commissionreport but many other reports have never been made public, which eventuallygives rise to the conspiracy theories. If these reports are made public,there would have been no conspiracy theories, “he said. – Anadolu Agency
