.jpg) An Argentine Air Force C-130B, similar to the aircraft involved | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 17 August 1988 |
| Summary | Crashed after takeoff;disputed cause |
| Site | Near Bahawalpur Airport, Sutlej River |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Lockheed C-130B Hercules |
| Operator |  Pakistan Air Force |
| Registration | 23494 |
| Flight origin | Bahawalpur Airport, Pakistan |
| Destination | Islamabad Airport, Pakistan |
| Occupants | 30 |
| Passengers | 17 |
| Crew | 13 |
| Fatalities | 30 |
| Survivors | 0 |
General Zia-ul-Haq, the sixthpresident of Pakistan, died in an aircraft crash on 17 August 1988 inBahawalpur near theSutlej River. Zia's close confidantCJCSCAkhtar Abdur Rahman,8th Director-General of the ISPRSiddique Salik, American diplomatArnold Lewis Raphel and 26 others also died upon impact.
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Zia's death was officially announced a few hours later onRadio Pakistan andPakistan Television Network byGhulam Ishaq Khan, theChairman of the Senate of Pakistan, who assumed presidency. Zia's state funeral took place at theFaisal Mosque inIslamabad, drawing around a million mourners.
On 17 August 1988,Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, with his senior delegation, arrived inBahawalpur where he was joined by the two AmericanChristian missionaries to visit thelocal convent to condole the death of an American nun murdered in Bahawalpur a few days before making a brief stop at theTamewali Test Range.[1] After witnessing and viewing the livefire demonstration of theU.S. Army'sM1 Abrams at the Thamewali Test Range, President Zia and his delegation left by army helicopter.[1] The demonstration was organized byMajor-GeneralMahmud Ali Durrani, then-GOC of the 1st Armoured Division of theArmoured Corps as the M1 Abrams, the standardU.S. Army's weapon system was expected to join service with thePakistan Army.[1]
At 15:40 (PKT) on 17 August 1988 the VIP flight took off fromBahawalpur Airport. On board theC-130 plane were a total of 30 people (17 passengers and 13 crew members); with Zia-ul-Haq were theUnited States Ambassador to Pakistan,Arnold Raphel, Brigadier General Herbert M. Wassom, the chief of the U.S. military mission in Pakistan, and a group of senior Pakistani army officers. The plane had been fitted with an air-conditioned VIP capsule where Zia and his American guests were seated. It was walled off from the flight crew and a passenger and baggage section in the rear.[citation needed]
The aircraft departed Bahawalpur early, ahead of a storm. For 2 minutes and 30 seconds, it rose into a clear sky. Takeoff was smooth and without problems. At 15:51 (PKT) Bahawalpur control tower lost contact, and the plane plunged from the sky and struck the ground with such force that it was blown to pieces and wreckage scattered over a wide area. Witnesses cited in Pakistan's official investigation said that the C-130 began to pitch "in an up-and-down motion" while flying low shortly after takeoff before going into a "near-vertical dive", exploding on impact, killing all on board. There were many investigations into this crash but no satisfactory cause was ever found.[2]
Washington sent a team ofUnited States Air Force officers to assist the Pakistanis in the investigation, but the two sides reached sharply different conclusions, leading to distrust as well as many arguments and fights.[citation needed]
Mrs Ely-Raphel and Brigadier-General Wassom's widow were both told by U.S. investigators that the crash had been caused by a mechanical problem common with the C-130, and that a similar incident had occurred to a C-130 inColorado which had narrowly avoided crashing.Mahmud Ali Durrani also blamed the C-130 which he said historically had issues.[3]
Robert Oakley, who replaced Arnold Raphel as U.S. ambassador following the crash and helped to handle the investigation, has also expressed this view. He has pointed out that 20 or 30 C-130s have suffered similar incidents. He has identified the mechanical fault as a problem with the hydraulics in the tail assembly. Although USAF pilots had handled similar emergencies, the Pakistani pilots were less well equipped to do so, lacking C-130 experience and also flying low.[4]
Ronan Farrow indicates that theFBI had a statutory authority to investigate the event but was ordered by Shultz "to stay away".[5] Also, theCIA did not investigate.[5] Air Force investigators who had been at the crash site ruled out mechanical failure but their report was not made public.[5]
Some weeks after the crash, a 27-page summary of a secret 365-page report was released by Pakistani investigators in which they said that they had found evidence of possible problems with the aircraft's elevator booster package, as well as frayed or snapped control cables. Analysis by a U.S. lab found "extensive contamination" bybrass andaluminium particles in the elevator booster package, but the report said "failure of the elevator control system due to a mechanical failure...is ruled out". It cited the aircraft-makerLockheed as saying that "even with the level of contamination found in the system, they have not normally experienced any problems other than wear".[4]
The report concluded that the contamination of the elevator booster package might at worst have caused sluggish controls leading to overcontrol but not to an accident. In the absence of a mechanical cause, the Pakistani inquiry concluded that the crash was due to an act of sabotage. They found no conclusive evidence of an explosion on the aircraft but said that chemicals that could be used in small explosives were detected inmango seeds and a piece of rope found on the aircraft. They also added that "the use of achemical agent to incapacitate the pilots and thus perpetuate the accident therefore remains a distinct possibility".[4]
Journalist and authorMohammed Hanif, who became head ofUrdu-language service atBBC, told American journalistDexter Filkins that, while working in London after 1996, he "became consumed" with determining how Zia was killed. Hanif "made phone calls and researched the lives of those around Zia", attempting to assess possible perpetrators—"the C.I.A., the Israelis, the Indians, the Soviets, rivals inside the Army". He stated he was "met with silence". "No one would talk—not Zia's wife, not the Ambassador's wife, no one in the Army.... I realized, there's no way in hell I'll ever find out."[6] Hanif later wrote the novelA Case of Exploding Mangoes which humorously describes four assassinations all occurring simultaneously. The possible assassins are a seniorPakistani Army officer, a Trade Union on behalf of a murder official, a crow on behalf of a blind woman imprisoned for fornication after a rape and the son of an army officer killed by Zia.
According toBarbara Crossette,The New York Times' South Asia bureau chief from 1988 to 1991:
Of all the violent political deaths in the twentieth century, none with such great interest to the U.S. has been more clouded than the mysterious air crash that killed president (and Army Chief General) Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan in (August) 1988, a tragedy that also claimed the life of the serving American ambassador and most of Zia's top commanders.[7]
No evidence has come to light to prove a conspiracy, but there have been several theories variously implicating the Soviet Union, India as well as the United States. Zia's death "entails the mist ofconspiracy theory".[7]
Stoking the suspicion that the Soviets were involved in the plane crash, one of the fatalities was GeneralAkhtar Abdur Rehman, theChairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and former head of the nation's spy agency,Inter Service Intelligence (ISI); Abdur Rehman was a leader of the Afghanmujahedin's war against the Soviets.[4][8][9]
Hamid Gul, theDirector-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence, toldThe Times that Zia was killed in a conspiracy involving a "foreign power".[4] Early reports suggested that Raphel had only been summoned to join the flight at the last minute, which fueledconspiracy theories blaming the United States. However, Raphel's widow has stated that her husband always planned to join Zia on the aircraft, and that it was General Wassom who was added at the last minute.[4]
People have also pointed to some senior dissatisfied generals of thePakistan Army itself.[10]
Some suspected the anti-Zia groupal-Zulfiqar, led byMurtaza Bhutto, brother ofBenazir Bhutto, who would ultimately gain most from Zia's departure. Zia's sonIjaz-ul-Haq toldBarbara Crossette a year after the crash that he was "101 percent sure" that Murtaza was involved. Benazir Bhutto suggested that the fatal crash might well have been an "act of God".[7]
Writing in the Fall 2005 issue ofWorld Policy Journal, former U.S. ambassador to IndiaJohn Gunther Dean, blamedMossad, theIsraeliintelligence agency, for orchestrating Zia's assassination in retaliation for Pakistan developing anuclear weapon to counteract India, and to prevent Zia, an effective Muslim leader, from continuing to influence U.S. foreign policy.[7] However, Dean said he had no proof for his assertion.[3]
TheGovernment of Pakistan announced to hold thestate funeral given the Zia-ul-Haq who was buried with military honors in a specially crafted white marble tomb, adjacent toShah Faisal Mosque inIslamabad. The funeral was attended by 30 heads of state, including the presidents ofBangladesh,China,Egypt,Iran,India,Turkey, and theUnited Arab Emirates as well as theAga Khan IV and representatives of the crowned heads ofSaudi Arabia andJordan. Key American politicians, U.S. Embassy staff in Islamabad, key personnel of thePakistan Armed Forces, and chiefs of staff of theArmy,Navy,Air Force also attended the funeral. His funeral was held on 19 August 1988 in the capital ofIslamabad, just 70 hours after the crash.[11] It was held with fullmilitary honors that included a sounding by light artillery of a21-gun salute. During the ceremony, nearly 1 million mourners chanted "Zia ul-Haq, you will live as long as the sun and moon remain above." He was buried in a 1.2-by-3-metre grave in front of theFaisal Mosque that Zia ordered the construction built of in honour of KingFaisal of Saudi Arabia and the friendship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.[12] In attendance was his successor PresidentGhulam Ishaq Khan, members of theJoint Chiefs of Staff Committee, high-ranking military and civilian officials, as well as foreign dignitaries such as PresidentYang Shangkun of China, PresidentHussain Muhammad Ershad ofBangladesh and US Secretary of StateGeorge P. Shultz.[13][14] Shultz called Zia "a great fighter for freedom," while Vice PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush called him a "great friend."[15]
Elections were held in 1988 andBenazir Bhutto become prime minister.
