Army had foiled conspiracies against PPP regimes twice

LAHORE: Although the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) stalwarts are busy airing clarifications after their leader Asif Ali Zardari’s emotional and rather outrageous tirade against the Army, they need to take a stroll down the memory lane to recall at least two instances where the country’s military officials had foiled conspiracies to help the late Benazir Bhutto survive in the power corridors.
The first time the Pakistan Army had prevented Benazir’s government from being toppled was in 1989, when two former intelligence officers Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmed “Billa” and Major Amir Khan had allegedly orchestrated the infamous “Operation Midnight Jackal” to send the PPP regime pacing. The “Operation Midnight Jackal” was exposed by the country’s premier spy agency ISI, after it had reportedly obtained audio and videotapes from the Intelligence Bureau.
The tapes had contained admissible evidence of Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmed and Major Amir trying to make the then sitting PPP parliamentarians support a no-confidence motion against their own prime minister.
It was later reported widely in local media that the then Army Chief Aslam Beg and the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan had plans to topple Benazir Bhutto’s government and to bring Nawaz Sharif into power.
Due to the lack of sufficient evidence against the Chief of Army Staff General Aslam Beg, his court martial could not take place, though the Judge Advocate General Corps had launched an extensive inquiry into the matter.
However, the careers of both Brigadier Imtiaz and Major Amir did come to an end as a result of the inquiry, the duo arrested on charges of treason and espionage, and then subsequently tried in military courts.
According to Major Masood Sharif Khattak, the then Director General of the Intelligence Bureau, Major (R) Amir and Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmed were caught on video and audio tapes persuading some of the PPP parliamentarians to vote against Prime Minister Bhutto.
This conspiracy had surfaced after Benazir Bhutto’s decision to sack the then ISI Chief Lt. General Hameed Gul and appoint a retired general Shamsur Rehman Kallu in his place had not pleased the then incumbent Army Chief Aslam Beg.
The Pakistan Army had also averted a coup attempt against Benazir Bhutto’s second regime in 1995.This secretive coup plot was hatched by renegade military officers and was aimed at overthrowing Benazir’s hard-earned government.
The plot was foiled after intelligence agencies had tipped off the Pakistan Army in this context.
Acting on the tip-off from the then Major General Ali Kuli Khan Khattak (the then Director General of Military Intelligence), the then Chief of General Staff Lt. General Jehangir Karamat had thwarted the coup bid by arresting 36 army officers and 20 civilians in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
The main accused in this failed coup attempt were Major General Zahirul Islam Abbasi (the then Director General of Infantry Corps at Rawalpindi), Brigadier Mustansir Billa and Qari Saifullah.
The arrested officials had later claimed during the course of investigation that they had plans to assassinate Premier Benazir Bhutto, Army Chief Abdul Waheed Kakar, senior cabinet ministers and the military top brass in order to bring about a corruption-free government in Pakistan.
While Qari Saifullah had managed to duck a trial by becoming an “approver,” Brigadier Billa was given a jail term of 14 years and Major General Abbasi was handed down a seven-year imprisonment. However, based on good conduct during his prison term, General Abbasi was given an early release from prison by General Pervez Musharraf in October 1999.
General Abbasi died in 2009.