Pakistan coup attempt of 1995
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The Pakistan coup attempt of 1995 was a secretive plot hatched by renegade military officers and Islamist groups against the government of Benazir Bhutto, the then-Prime Minister of Pakistan. The plotters aimed to overthrow the constitutional government and establish an Islamic State or caliphate in Pakistan. The plot was foiled after intelligence agencies tipped off the Pakistan Army.
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[edit] Causes
Gen. Zia-ul-Haq's Islamisation policies launched in the 1980s substantially increased the role of Islam in public life and the activities and involvement of Islamic organisations in political and military circles. General Zia encouraged Islamic law and religious education in all segments of Pakistani society. Resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was hailed as a religious duty and Pakistani intelligence and military services recruited, trained and armed Afghan mujahideen to fight the Soviet Army. Pakistani patronage would also give rise to the Taliban militia, which would take over Afghanistan in 1995. Such religious organisations would also develop within Pakistan, notably the Tableeghi Jamaat, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. The Tableeghi Jamaat, based in Raiwind, won a large membership in Pakistan, including high-profile military officials and politicians.
[edit] Plot
Major General Zahirul Islam Abbasi was the chief plotter of the coup attempt, serving at the time as director-general of infantry corps at the Pakistani army high command in Rawalpindi. Abbasi was notorious for his attempt in 1991 to invade the Siachen sector without the knowledge of the army high command, yet he had received a high-ranking command post. With the help of sympathetic military officers and religious leaders, Abbasi began plotting against the civilian government of Benazir Bhutto and the army chief Gen. Wahid Kakar. Abbasi planned to assassinate Bhutto, Kakar, senior cabinet ministers and the military chiefs and proclaim the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in Pakistan. Acting on a tip-off from the then Maj. Gen. Ali Quli Khan Khattak, who was then the director-general of military intelligence, director-general of military operations Lt. Gen. Jehangir Karamat suppressed the coup by arresting 36 army officers and 20 civilians in Rawalpindi and the capital Islamabad.
Subsequent inquiries and major newspaper reports established that all the arrested army officers were members of the Tableeghi Jamaat. Most of the arrested officers were followers of Mufti Sufi Iqbal, the head of the group who was also arrested for his involvement in the plot. Col. Amjad, one of the arrested officers, was related to the Mufti. The Mufti was an open advocate of jihad in Pakistan and abroad. The planning and religious indoctrination of the group came from Lt. Gen. Muhammad Malik, who was a powerful corps commander who had frequently invited Mufti Iqbal to deliver religious sermons at the corps headquarters. His views had been a source of inspiration for many officers and other ranks with religious inclinations. The prime minister prematurely retired him, ending his army career.
The Nation published a report on December 25, 1995 claiming that the investigation into the plot had identified the following religious leaders of Pakistan as closely associated with the plotters: Maulana Qadir Dervi of Dera Ghazi Khan; Maulana Sheikhullah Khan of Jamia Farooqia, Karachi; Maulana Mufto Mohammad Abdus Sattar, Khairul Madrassa, Multan; Mufti Manzoor Ahmad, Madrassa Qasimul Uloom, Multan; Maulana Abdul Hameed, Sheikhul Hadith; Mufti Mohammad Yahya, Nusratul Uloom, Gujranwala; Mufti Mohammad Rafi Usmani, Darul Uloom, Karachi; Maulana Muhammad Musa, Jamia Ashrafia, Maulana Muhammad Yaqub, Jamia Rashidia, Quetta; Maulana Muhammad Yousuf Ludhianvi, Karachi; Maulana Rashid Ahmad Ludhianvi, Maulana Qazi Abdul Karim from Karachi and Maulana Abdul Baqi, Darul Aloom, Quetta.
[edit] Other views
Non-government reports also suggest that Abbasi had been supplying arms to Kashmiri separatists and was arrested by the Bhutto regime in response to pressure from the United States to curb the militancy. The coup plotters were close to Lt. Gen. (retd) Javed Nasir, a former director-general of Inter-Services Intelligence, who was removed from his post in 1993 under U.S. pressure because of his alleged non-cooperation in the US efforts to re-purchase unused FIM-92 Stinger missiles from the Afghan mujahideen.
Professor Lawrence Ziring, former president of the American Institute of Pakistani studies offered a different view of events. In his 2003 book, "Pakistan at the crosscurrents of history", Ziring said said there was "little evidence to implicate the accused" (p. 239). He also suggested that the alleged coup was little more than an attempt by Bhutto to bring the military establishment closer under her control. (p. 239) He also describes Bhutto as lashing out against her critics in November 1995 and accusing (without proof) those involved as having planned to kill her, most of the army command and the president of Pakistan.
[edit] Aftermath
Benazir Bhutto was succeeded in 1997 by Nawaz Sharif, who would dismiss army chief Gen. Karamat and Lt. Gen. Khattak. Sharif maintained links with the Tableeghi Jamaat and provided financial support for the group. He also helped Muhammad Rafiq Tarar — a full-fledged member of the group — become the President of Pakistan. During his period of imprisonment, Abbasi lodged a complaint with the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1997, which refused to grant his release. However, Abbasi was released from prison following the overthrow of Nawaz Sharif by Gen. Pervez Musharraf in October 1999. Although his military career was over, Abbasi moved to organise an Islamic fundamentalist political party with the aim of organising an Islamist revolution. He is also reportedly working as an activist for Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Abbasi recently formed another political party called the Azmat-e-Islam Bedar Pakistan party.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Tabhligi Jamaat
- Abbasi coup attempt
- Abbasi coup attempt
- The Nation
- AsiaWeek
- Terror links
- Strategic Affairs Analysis
