Musharraf’s Coup October 12, 1999: Friends, not Masters by Malik Abdur Rehman pakistani president pervez musharraf 3 Musharraf’s Coup October 12, 1999: Friends, not Masters by Malik Abdur Rehman On October 12, Pakistan Army Chief General Parvez Musharraf overthrew the elected government of Nawaz Sharif, the second time Prime Minister of Pakistan. A series of events took place in important cities like Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi and Army seized the entire political administration in country in nearly 4 hours. The tension between the Prime Minister and Army chief had mounted for weeks, starting from the Kargil incident. And it was imminent that something is about to happen like either army will overthrow the government, or Musharraf will be replaced. It all started in the evening of 12th October when Gen. Musharaf was on his way back to Karachi from Colombo. Prime Minister rushed to PM house, when he was about to address a procession, and called on the Director General ISI Lieutenant General Ziauddin Butt. Prime Minister’s principal secretary Sayed Mehdi prepared orders of dismissal of Gen. Musharraf and appointment of Gen. Zia as new COAS (Chief of Army Staff). Nawaz Sharif, himself, went to President House and got it signed from President Raifq Tarar. It was reported by Paskitan Television News at 5:00 o’clock that Zia has been appointed as new COAS, and Nawaz was shown, decorating the shoulder of Zia with insignia of full General. At that time, Lt.Ge Mahmood Ahmad (X-Corps commander Rawalpindi) & Lt.Gen Muhamad Aziz Khan- Chief of General Staff (CGS) were playing tennis in army club Chaklala. Lt.Gen Shahid Aziz- DG Military Operations who is the Chief Officer of all operations carried out by army and his orders are considered as COAS’ orders in his absence, was at his residence. These three men would be front line operatives of the mutiny. By then Musharraf’s clan had planned to revert any kind of act like that. Soon after the announcement of dismissal of Musharraf, a war room in GHQ was created and army officials activated their master plan. Musharraf writes: All officers operating in all cities during coup were appointed by me personally and they knew what they have to do.” This illuminates that Musharraf’s martial law was a major preplanned operation and not a “sudden reaction” as he calls it. Anyways, the very first step which “The Clan” took was to order 111 Brigade Rawalpindi that comes under X-Corps, to take over Prime minister and President Houses. Two commanding officers Lieutenant Colonel Shahid Ali and Lt. Colonel Jawaid Sultan were responsible for the security of PM house and President House respectively. General Mahmood ordered them to seal both accommodations. No one was allowed to move in or out without taking permission from GHQ. Jawaid Sultan was also ordered to takeover TV/Radio stations. Shahid Ali called the Chief security officer, a Major, at Pm house and he immediately locked down all entrances. Lahore corps Commander Lt. Gen Khalid Maqbool was out of town, his subordinate Maj. Gen Tariq Aziz was indicated by DGMO to arrest Governor Punjab Z.A Khosa & detain the residences of PM, TV/Radio station and Lahore airport and to completely confine the city under army’s control. At 5:40pm General Aziz Khan called Corps commander Karachi Lt. Gen Usmani to takeover Karachi airport. General Mahmood was replaced by Lt. Gen Saleem Haider but he was not allowed to get into PM house even when he was in uniform. Likewise Gen. Zia was banned to get into GHQ to prevent him from taking charge as COAS. Military horde was obeying orders of dismissed or replaced Generals. When Shahid Ali reached PM house, he saw some 17 men standing at the gate. Those included Gen. Zia, SSG commandos, Police and Elite guards, new Chief of General Staff (CGS) Lt. General Akram, Military secretary Tariq Jawaid, Principle secretary Sayed Mehdi and a major. Shaid Ali, being a Lt. Colonel, arrested all these men, including his COAS and CGS, and locked them up. By 7:45 pm Army had “captured” the Prime Minister House, President House, Radio/TV stations in Islamabad and Lahore, blocked the Mobilink service (the only cellular service of that time), airports of Lahore and Karachi and captivated several high ranking army officials and the political leadership. At 7:48 pm, Musharraf landed in Karachi, Lt. General Usmani and Maj. General Iftakhar were there to receive him. Parvez Musharraf had proclaimed 4th Martial Law in the history of Pakistan. At 02:30 am, Musharraf addressed to the people of Pakistan, announcing the end of Nawaz Government. Nawaz Sharif’s government had seen its last sun rise, and a long horrifying, frightening night of military rule had casted its might. The theme was the same, as that of Sikh military, and it seems to persist in the mentality of military establishment. But I pray that some electrifying bolt may change th
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 04:31:24 +0000
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