A failed Islamist military coup in Pakistan

[Talwar e Pakistan]

A failed coup hidden for 30 years.
Really?

Since when do things in Pakistan remain a secret for so long, there is always rumours and talk or something, this is the first time I'm hearing this.

Possibly religious idiots with fantasies who were caught, but to call it a failed coup is a bit rich and misleading.

This was well known for a long while.

 

[Longhorn]

According to the report these guys were planning, it was not executed, we do not know how much of a threat it was, planning something and having a chance of success are two different things.

The attack on the capital qualifies, members of the congress were scared for their lives, in their own offices. Only by a miracle and massive pressure did the situation calm down. By ignoring that, you are being unfair.
You have not understood the point, it being that we are stuck in sensationalism approach. it is so inbuilt, we are unable to see that the world does things differently. Which is why we appear weak. That's sad.
But this discussion has come to an end, you have your view, I have mine.


Then why haven't the Americans described the attack on the capitol as a coup?
The point is the world uses certain words with extreme care, whereas Pakistanis are stuck with sensationalism.

If an attack does not involve a Muslim then they are very careful to label it as terrorism, if a Muslim, terrorism is highlighted in capital letters. By not choosing our words with care, we make ourselves weak. It really is that simple.

You can have your own view but you can't make up your own facts.
The only reason the coup didn't come to fruition was because the intelligence services got wind of the ploot and intervened otherwise it would have been carried out.
It was to all intents and purposes a coup, a failed one, but a coup nevertheless.
What you are asking for is for every coup conspiracy to be dismissed as drawing room banter unless it is carried out, and only then does it become a coup in your eyes.
Murder is a capital offence but conspiracy to murder is also a capital offence, that's what Bhutto was hanged for.

 

[peagle]

You can have your own view but you can't make up your own facts.
The only reason the coup didn't come to fruition was because the intelligence services got wind of the ploot and intervened otherwise it would have been carried out.
It was to all intents and purposes a coup, a failed one, but a coup nevertheless.
What you are asking for is for every coup conspiracy to be dismissed as drawing room banter unless it is carried out, and only then does it become a coup in your eyes.
Murder is a capital offence but conspiracy to murder is also a capital offence, that's what Bhutto was hanged for.

Ok, now you are getting personal, if you want to turn this into a childish discussion I am happy to oblige, it is not difficult to come up with putdowns, you need to grow up. So far we've had a decent discussion exchanging our points of view. But your above post is childish to the extreme.

You have not even understood the discussion, I have presented you with detailed arguments but all you have done is repeat the same argument, how does that make sense?
I ended the discussion with the acknowledgement that we both have a different points of view, any sensible person would acknowledge and move on. You've decided to turn this into a personal attack.

I think it would be better if you broaden your horizons, and learn to understand an argument before attempting one.
You have childishly made assumptions about me, based on nothing I have said or claimed, I suggest you move on before this turns ugly.

 

[Longhorn]

Ok, now you are getting personal, if you want to turn this into a childish discussion I am happy to oblige, it is not difficult to come up with putdowns, you need to grow up. So far we've had a decent discussion exchanging our points of view. But your above post is childish to the extreme.

You have not even understood the discussion, I have presented you with detailed arguments but all you have done is repeat the same argument, how does that make sense?
I ended the discussion with the acknowledgement that we both have a different points of view, any sensible person would acknowledge and move on. You've decided to turn this into a personal attack.

I think it would be better if you broaden your horizons, and learn to understand an argument before attempting one.
You have childishly made assumptions about me, based on nothing I have said or claimed, I suggest you move on before this turns ugly.

As far as I can see, I haven't used abusive language or insulted you. I haven't called you childish or anything else. I have said nothing about you personally. In fact, if you go through my post history, you will see that I never resort to personal abuse or foul language. I do disagree, or agree, with people depending on the discussion, that's what I thought an open forum was for, and in this case I have to disagree with your view that the coup wasn't a coup and it should have been called something else.
I thought it was a good discussion and you should give your reasons as to why you think what you think but do expect a reply to the contrary if your post warrants it.
Which bit of that post did you consider to be a personal putdown?

 

[peagle]

As far as I can see, I haven't used abusive language or insulted you. I haven't called you childish or anything else. I have said nothing about you personally. In fact, if you go through my post history, you will see that I never resort to personal abuse or foul language. I do disagree, or agree, with people depending on the discussion, that's what I thought an open forum was for, and in this case I have to disagree with your view that the coup wasn't a coup and it should have been called something else.
I thought it was a good discussion and you should give your reasons as to why you think what you think but do expect a reply to the contrary if your post warrants it.
Which bit of that post did you consider to be a personal putdown?

Ok, if that wasn't your intention, I'll accept that. I'm old enough to realise that sometimes we think we've said one thing, but it actually comes across as something else. No worries.

To answer your query.
"you can't make up your own facts"
*I did not make up any facts, this is accusing me of lying.

"What you are asking for is for every coup conspiracy to be dismissed as drawing room banter unless it is carried out, and only then does it become a coup in your eyes"
*I did not make any of these claims, neither are any of my arguments were based on this thinking.


I tried to be very clear in my discussion, where I felt my statement could be taken in a wrong way, I clarified that it was not my intention and (wrote hands on my heart) to avoid any misunderstanding.

I will not repeat the my points of my discussion, because it will take as back to the start.
Stay blessed.

 

[SaadH]

I didn't know Musharraf was a religious extremist

Yes, his affliction/religion was secularism, every bit as dogmatic as the four horsemen of atheism.

 

[muhammadhafeezmalik]

The plan was to arrest Army Chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar and the generals who had come for the Corps Commanders Conference from the rooms allotted for their accommodation and to appoint Major General Zaheerul Islam Abbasi as the new Army Chief overnight.

September 8, 1995 was a typical morning in Kohat, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (then NWFP) province of Pakistan. On this day, two vehicles stopped at a medium-sized hotel called Green in Kohat at 6.30 am. One was a military staff car, while the other was a MNO 615 Dotson cherry red private car.

Four people were appeared from both the vehicles. The two men appeared from the private car were military officers with beards on their faces, while the two men came out from the government car were drivers.

The officers came to the hotel restaurant and sat down and started talking to each other. Meanwhile, another bearded man in a shalwar kameez entered the hotel and after meeting the two officers sitting in the restaurant, he stopped there. The three of them taken tea and then he left.

After takking tea, the two officers went to Room No. 8, which was booked in the hotel, while the two drivers were asked to rest in Room No. 9. The four had left Rawalpindi at 4 am.

On the other hand, Jawad Sultan, a young senior intelligence and investigation officer of the Customs and Excise Intelligence Department, was standing outside a village called 'Chakrakot' on the outskirts of Kohat with his two mobile parties.

He had received a tip-off that an attempt would be made to smuggle arms from here. For Jawad, this may have been a routine operation against smuggling, but in the next few days, this operation was going to be of paramount importance at the national and international level, which he probably did not even suspect.

Jawad was informed wirelessly that the suspicious vehicle was approaching. Seeing the number and color of the car that he and his team already knew, they chased after him and caught him shortly after he stopped outside the Green Hotel.

Two persons were recovered from the vehicle, one was introducing himself as a serving soldier and the other was introducing himself as Qari Saifullah Akhtar. The cherry red car number used by both of them was MNO 615 which had just reached Kohat from Rawalpindi this morning.

The vehicle and the two accused were immediately taken into government custody and shifted to an unknown location. It all happened so fast. In fact, one of the arrested drivers had reached Kohat in a military staff car along with his fellow driver in the morning but later he was asked by his officer to accompany Maulvi Sahib who was coming to the restaurant.

The other driver was watching the incident when customs police and intelligence officials raided the parking lot of the Green Hotel. He saw the situation and immediately rushed to Room No. 8 on the first floor of the hotel where he informed his two officers in a dazed state that his fellow driver Maqsood had been arrested along with Maulvi Sahib. Police have also taken his cherry red car Dotson with them.

Perhaps the informant at the time did not know the difference between the police and the customs department because their uniforms are more or less the same today. The driver's report was nothing short of explosive for the two men in the room, according to evidence recorded during various civil and military trials in the case several years later.

One of the two men was Army Brigadier Mustansir Balla and the other was Colonel Liaqat Ali Raja, while the one arrested by the Customs Police and Intelligence was Qari Saifullah Akhtar, a well-known jihadi commander. The arms smuggling report to the Customs and Intelligence Department was actually provided by the Army's Military Intelligence. Military intelligence at the time maintained an effective network of informants between arms dealers in the tribal areas and the Dara area.

He may have received information from there that a large quantity of arms was being procured from Punjab. The information was shared with Customs Intelligence officials and two people were arrested outside the hotel along with a vehicle and weapons.

At the time, Customs Intelligence and Military Intelligence officials did not even think that the real buyers of the weapons were inside the hotel where a vehicle with weapons and two persons were arrested from outside the hotel in Kohat.

Customs officials opened the vehicle and found 26 Kalashnikovs, five rockets, a rocket launcher and 50 hand grenades. According to the statement given by Jawad Sultan to the military court, 17 out of 26 Kalashnikovs were engraved with Khalistan Zindaabad Jathedar, Talwinder Singh etc. while 9 Kalashnikovs had no such thing written on them.

According to one of the accused in the case, who did not want to be named, the purchase of the weapons was ordered by Qari Saifullah Akhtar at a cost of around Rs 2 lakh at that time.

Saifullah Akhtar had fought in Kashmir and Afghanistan and was a well-known name in jihadi circles. Saifullah Akhtar was given money to buy arms by Brigadier Mustansir Ballah while he bought arms from Haji Fazal, an arms dealer in Dara Adamkhel and assigned a person named Saad Rasool to deliver them to Kohat. Mustansirullah believes that the same person named Saad Rasool had informed the military intelligence about this matter.

According to the lawsuit, the story does not end there. As soon as the officers in Room No. 8 were informed of the police raid by the driver, the two officers got into a military government vehicle and reached Rawalpindi. On the way, the two agreed to report to their respective offices that they wanted to provide arms to some Mujahideen for the liberation of Kashmir in Kotli, but their driver and vehicle were seized in Kohat.

Brigadier Mustansirballa offered to take the blame on himself and tell Colonel Liaquat in his office that he was given the vehicle at the request of Brigadier but he did not know how to use it but Colonel Liaquat did not agree.

The whole scenario listed above also comes to light in the light of the statements of the accused and witnesses in the military court at this time.

When the characters involved in the whole incident were arrested, the then Army Chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar called Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and asked for an appointment.

Upon arrival in Rawalpindi, Major General Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi was first informed about the matter as the whole plan was to establish a 'Khilafah' in the country by making him Amir-ul-Momineen.

Army Chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar had convened a regular meeting of Corps Commanders at GHQ Rawalpindi on September 30, 1995 and the plan was to arrest Army Chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar and the corps commanders who would come for the conference. Arrests will be made from the rooms would be provided them for accommodation during the conference.

After which, overnight, Major General Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi was to be appointed as the new Army Chief, President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari and Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto were to be arrested to overthrow the government and then General Zaheer-ul-Islam was to address the nation.

The proposed address has been made part of the court record which shows that for this purpose, instead of soldiers, the mujahideen fighting in Kashmir and Afghanistan were to be used for which the entire responsibility was handed over to Qari Saifullah Akhtar.

Weapons brought for the September 30 plot and the arrest of Qari Saifullah Akhtar in Kohat, the whole affair seemed to be falling apart. Mustansir Balla and Col. Liaquat Ali Raja once again met Major General Zaheerul Islam Abbasi at a mosque in Rawalpindi.

According to a statement issued by Col. Liaquat Ali Raja in the court, General Abbasi said in the meeting that September 30 is still a long way off. I told them what we thought would happen if we left the corps commanders helpless on the golf course. At this General Abbasi patted me on the back and said that young man you are very brave.

Talking about various projects, they all left for their respective homes. That night of September 8 may have experienced heavily on all those plotting the coup. Everyone was worried that Qari Saifullah Akhtar would not open the whole matter.

On the other hand, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, who was already an experienced person and was aware of the ways to deal with such a situation, kept his mouth shut during the interrogation of the military officials after his arrest and showed that he had given these weapons to Kashmiri Mujahideen.

Col. Liaqat Ali Raja and Brigadier Mustansir Balla, the owners of the car which was recovered along with the weapons, were also questioned but no one came to know about the real plan.

It is said that Brigadier Mustansir Ballah handed over some of his papers to a man named Mufti Saeed and directed that they be burnt and destroyed. Military officials later recovered a copy of the speech from Mufti Saeed, which was to be delivered by Major General Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi after taking over the country. Mufti Saeed was the only person with these military officers who was aware of every issue.

Did US report mutiny inside army?


Brigadier Mustansir Ballah wrote in his book, which has termed illigle and confiscated, that the United States had secretly informed Pakistan on September 17, 1995 that the weapons recovered from Kohat were not to be used for Kashmir but to be used for insurgency within the army.

According to Mustansir Balla, he and his accomplice Col. Liaquat Ali Raja were arrested immediately after the same report.

According to Mustansir Balla, on September 25 and 26, 1995, Colonel Liaquat Ali Raja lost his temper and he told the authorities about the complete plan of 'Operation Khilafah' and the names of all the people. Thus, the military authorities arrested 100 military officers and started interrogating them.

On September 28 and 29, Brigadier Mustansir Ballah was produced before Brigadier Khurshid, who was investigating the case, and was told that "Operation Khilafah is over."

Role of Corcommander Rawalpindi

During the interrogation of the military officials, it was also revealed that on one occasion, Brigadier Mustansir Ballah was also a big fan of the then Corps Commander Rawalpindi Lieutenant General Ghulam Muhammad Malik. Since Ghulam Muhammad Malik was a religious man, Mustansirullah had at one point planned to ask the army chief to seize power during his absence in the country, but this did not happen. ۔

Brigadier Mustansir Ballah also had a special acquaintance with him and claimed that the said officer was aware of all the details of his operation. They reportedly went to arrest him, but the commander had already learned that military intelligence had linked him to Brigadier General Mustansir Ballah. According to Mustansir Balla, to avoid this situation, before the arrest of Lieutenant General Malik Ali Qali, he himself went to the Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and informed him about the whole operation.

How did Benazir Bhutto get the information?

At that time, Benazir Bhutto was the Prime Minister of the country. At first he was unaware of the uprising against himself and the army. When the characters involved in the whole incident were arrested, the then Army Chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar called Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto one evening and asked for an "important" meeting the next day.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto gave time to the Army Chief as the first visitor the next morning. By then, the matter had come to the notice of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), an intelligence agency working under the Prime Minister.

Retired Major Masood Sharif, then head of the Intelligence Bureau, recalls, "I called the Prime Minister last night and said, 'Ms. our meeting should be held before the first appointment."

Masood Sharif was saying between the lines that he wanted to meet the Prime Minister before meeting Army Chief. The Prime Minister gave an appointment in the morning at which the IB Chief arrived at the Prime Minister's House Islamabad on time.

"I told the prime minister that some army officers had been arrested. They wanted to assassinate the prime minister and the military leadership and take over the country," he said. The Prime Minister listened to me with calmness. She must have been shocked but I remember very well that there was no problem on her face. He said in amazement, "How could anyone think like that?"

The prime minister listened to all this and then met his next important visitor who gave him the breaking news of the arrest of the military officers which was probably already with the prime minister but no one was told that Benazir already knew everything.

Title of Banned book of Brigadier Mustansir Ballah

What was the result?

Major General Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi, Brigadier Mustansir Balla, two colonels and 38 others were sentenced in the field court martial as a result of the military operation.

Qari Saifullah Akhtar, Mufti Saeed and others were also imprisoned but escaped the Field General Court Martial proceedings as they were civilians. Major General Zaheerul Islam Abbasi was released in 2002 and died in 2009.

This Correspondent has been meeting him at his residence in Rawalpindi. After his release, Mustansir Ballah also wrote books in 2008 entitled "Operation Khilafah" and "Democracy is Kufr", "Khilafah is Obligatory" which are no longer available in the market.

On April 5, 2015, I met Brigadier Retired Mustansir Balla in Lahore. He had been living a solitary life since his release. He also gave me a book with his signature. He was reluctant to talk in detail about his past, but refused to publish our conversation during the meeting.

Mufti Saeed has set up his own madrassa on the outskirts of Murree on the outskirts of Islamabad and is also reluctant to talk about it. This is the same Mufti Saeed who, years later, arranged the marriage of PTI chief and current Prime Minister Imran Khan first to Reham Khan and then to Bushra Bibi after his divorce.

Qari Saifullah Akhtar lived in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Dubai after his release. Apart from Pakistan, he was also arrested in Dubai. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007, she was arrested and interrogated, after which she returned to Afghanistan, where she was reportedly killed in a drone strike.

Sufi Iqbal, who resides in Saudi Arabia, is also mentioned in this case. This is the Sufi Iqbal whose teachings impressed all the military officers and he not only knew about the coup but to some extent he was also involved in the counseling but there was no mention of his arrest or action against him. Noone has any idea where is he today.

Colonel Liaquat Ali Raja has also been released after completing the imprisonment.

In the same case, former Colonel Inayat and others were released due to lack of evidence but later they were also dismissed from the army. Today, former Colonel Inayat has approached the Supreme Court seeking justice.

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www.bbc.com

 

[313ghazi]

You know what is really interesting... Why is this news?

A non event from 27 years ago is on the BBC. Why?

I saw a twitter thread about it a week or ago. Then a thread on PDF based on the tweet.

Why is it suddenly of interest now? Lazy journalism or are they setting up a narrative against Pakistan?

 

[PakAlp]

They always pushed the khilafat narrative on Pakistan and the Muslim ummah. Wherever the idea of Khilafat is promoted, you will see mutiny in the government/army and then internal violence and the country is sent back 50 years, all the development, education, future, technology is destroyed. In the UK hizb Tahrir is the loudest group on Khilafat, never mind the corrupt Pakistan government or the system, they hate the army, agencies, the borders of Pakistan, the flag and even the name of Pakistan which they want to change to Khilafah, and Islamabad name will be Khilafabad.

The last BBC report on Pakistan I've read was where BBC is criticising Pakistan agencies for hurting the militants, not giving them rights etc.
Its quite apparent the game that is being played and how our army and government is failing to take action against them.

Who is Qari Saifullah? Mufti Saeed? Sufi Iqbal? Which Maddrassa are they running? Which Maddrasa they graduated from? Which ideology they follow? Any info?

 

[313ghazi]

They always pushed the khilafat narrative on Pakistan and the Muslim ummah. Wherever the idea of Khilafat is promoted, you will see mutiny in the government/army and then internal violence and the country is sent back 50 years, all the development, education, future, technology is destroyed. In the UK hizb Tahrir is the loudest group on Khilafat, never mind the corrupt Pakistan government or the system, they hate the army, agencies, the borders of Pakistan, the flag and even the name of Pakistan which they want to change to Khilafah, and Islamabad name will be Khilafabad.

The last BBC report on Pakistan I've read was where BBC is criticising Pakistan agencies for hurting the militants, not giving them rights etc.
Its quite apparent the game that is being played and how our army and government is failing to take action against them.

Who is Qari Saifullah? Mufti Saeed? Sufi Iqbal? Which Maddrassa are they running? Which Maddrasa they graduated from? Which ideology they follow? Any info?

Why the interest in something that failed 27 years ago. Why is it news today?

 

[muhammadhafeezmalik]

You know what is really interesting... Why is this news?

A non event from 27 years ago is on the BBC. Why?

I saw a twitter thread about it a week or ago. Then a thread on PDF based on the tweet.

Why is it suddenly of interest now? Lazy journalism or are they setting up a narrative against Pakistan?

Not really. It show how vigilant is Pakistan Army. Masha Allah.

Why the interest in something that failed 27 years ago. Why is it news today?

This may be a reminder to such attempts.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1483664406026366978

 

[PakAlp]

Pakistan case isn’t just extremism, it’s the ignorance driven extremism that is eroding the fabric of society.

Majority are ignorant, they hardly read or write, its all about family politics to local politics and then holding the tail of some MNA. Those who are blaming religious people to be extremist are also the same ignorant fools of the society. The secular/Liberal are the ones in power and they are the number one extremist and corrupt, then the religious mullah who are in reality in bed with the secular elite, both parties are the same. The rest is the public from whom the good people are at the bottom as the snakes won't let them rise, from family politics, local politics to national politics, the good people cannot challenge the corrupt because all institutes take bribery and only the cunning people and liers survive.

Our institutes must be made independent, election commission must be powerful and independent, people who work in institutes must be chosen by merit. This will neutralise the corrupt and cunning people as the good people will also have some power.

 

[PakAlp]

Why the interest in something that failed 27 years ago. Why is it news today?

I would say to bring the revolution from Afghanistan to Pakistan, to promote the rise of militancy and its ideology.

 

[Genghis khan1]

Majority are ignorant, they hardly read or write, its all about family politics to local politics and then holding the tail of some MNA. Those who are blaming religious people to be extremist are also the same ignorant fools of the society. The secular/Liberal are the ones in power and they are the number one extremist and corrupt, then the religious mullah who are in reality in bed with the secular elite, both parties are the same. The rest is the public from whom the good people are at the bottom as the snakes won't let them rise, from family politics, local politics to national politics, the good people cannot challenge the corrupt because all institutes take bribery and only the cunning people and liers survive.

Our institutes must be made independent, election commission must be powerful and independent, people who work in institutes must be chosen by merit. This will neutralise the corrupt and cunning people as the good people will also have some power.

Don’t confuse literacy with knowledge (Hikmat). Majority of these average govt employees are educated. People join govt dept to do the right thing but when they see whole pool is dirty and their survival depends on working with them. That’s
How corruption spread. Corruption is the absence of accountability and justice. Once you let one go, than it encourages other to do the same.

You can make every dept independent, if the fear of accountability (punishment) is missing from employees, corruption will seep in. It’s human nature.