Khaqan Abbasi remembered on his 30th death anniversary

ISLAMABAD: Former federal minister for Production and statesman in his own right Muhammad Khaqan Abbasi was remembered here Tuesday on his 30th death anniversary who died in Ojhri camp’s disaster on April 10th, 1988.

Muhammad Khaqan Abbasi’s elder son Muhammad Zahid Abbasi who was a handsome and intelligent young man sitting beside his father in the car that was hit by a stray shrapnel also suffered head injury and died after 16 years as he remained in comma throughout these years. His younger brother Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and sister Saadia Abbasi looked after their bedridden brother during these long years befittingly.

The sudden demise of Muhammad Khaqan Abbasi changed the whole scenario of the politics. He was close buddy of then president General Muhammad Ziaul Haq who wanted to appoint him as prime minister immediate after then ensuing budget. No probe could find the real cause of the explosion of the camp after several inquiries and 30 years on.

The then president dismissed prime minister Muhammad Khan Junejo and dissolved the National Assembly without appointing a prime minister after two months of the gory incident. Incidentally General Zia also perished in air crash after four months of Ojhari disaster.

Muhammad Khaqan Abbasi was minister for Production in Prime Minister Junejo’s government. He was an air commodore in the Pakistan Air Force. He moved to Jordan after he was relinquished Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and served as the adviser of Royal Jordanian Air Force.

With the support of then King of Jordan, he undertook construction project in Saudi Arabia. He was elected to the National Assembly from NA-36 Rawalpindi-I in 1985 by defeating Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq. He was inducted into the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Junejo due to his close relationship with Ziaul Haq and was appointed as minister for production. He died on April 10, 1988 after his car was hit by a missile in the Ojhri camp disaster. Ojhri Camp was a large ammunition depot of Pakistan army located in Rawalpindi. It was used as an ammunition depot for Afghan Mujahedeen fighting against occupying Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Those were the days when CIA and America loved Islamic Jihad and Mujahideen as they gave their lives in the battle fields of Afghanistan. The camp exploded on April 10, 1988 and it was claimed by a wire service that it killed more than 4,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.