Two ex-corps commanders of Karachi die

ISLAMABAD: Two former Corps Commanders of Karachi, Lt. General (R) Naseer Akhtar and Lt. General (R) Muzaffar Hussain Usmani passed away on Thursday.

Deaths of two former three-star generals reported to be natural and co-incident. Lt. General (R) Naseer Akhtar died in a local hospital of Lahore due to an illness which causes tremors in the body. Then Chief of the Army Staff, General Asif Nawaz Janjua appointed him Karachi Corps Commander.

Lt. General (R) Naseer Akhtar was acting as commander of 5 Corps (Karachi Corps) from 1992 to 1994 when a clean-up operation named ‘Blue Fox’ was launched against MQM. The operation which was participated by Sindh Police, Rangers with support of Pakistan Army and intelligence agencies was started by then PM Nawaz Sharif government and also pursued by Benazir Bhutto government.

Another three-star officer, Lt. General (R) Muzaffar Husain Usmani as Karachi corps commander was instrumental in October 12, 1999 military coup against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He took control of Quaid-e-Azam International Airport and ensured General Pervez Musharraf’s aircraft at Jinnah Terminal. The dead body of former general was found in a car parked in Khayaban-e-Sehr of Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA). However, the police said that Usmani died of cardiac arrest. He was 80. General (R) Musharraf appointed him as Deputy Chief of Air Staff but later removed him after developing differences with him.

According to the Superintendent of Police Clifton Imran Mirza, police had received information of a body lying inside a car near Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA. On arrival, the police saw that the car's engine and headlights were switched on and found Lt Gen (R) Usmani dead inside the vehicle. According to SP Mirza, the former general — a resident of Karachi's Gizri area — had died of cardiac arrest. Meanwhile, Lt Gen (R) Akhtar's family said the former military officer had passed away at a local hospital in Lahore where he was admitted for a couple of days. The family said that the former corps commander was suffering from a medical condition that caused tremors in his body. Akhtar's funeral prayers will be offered at Lahore Cantt after Zuhr prayer.