Good thread Haris!
Let’s start with Zia’s role first and then talk about the circumstances of his assassination and murder.
Zia was the ultimate patriot of Pakistan. He knew how to get the maximum benefit for Pakistan financially and strategically. He was willing to use Pakistani army for that very purpose.
He could have an informal dinner with Senator Brownback in one evening, and enjoy tea with King Hussain the next afternoon.
He was the shining example of a Pakistani general who could see where to support Americans for ultimate benefit of Pakistan.
Even as a junior officer he was well versed with the international politics. For him, Pakistan’s interests superseded any other interests including Islamic shenanigans.
Case in point! He was there to defeat Palestinian and Egyptian terror against Jordan. He is the one who defeated Yasser Arafat’s militias and protected Jordanians from a Lebanese style protracted civil war.
He was oh so comfortable with Cricket diplomacy with Indians that poor Indian politicians were fully charmed by his charisma.
He was able to maintain good links with China, and other super powers.
However Gen. Zia was really close to the US generals and state department. The day of his assassination, he was in Bahawalpur to see the American tanks’ exercises. American Ambassador was in the same plane and so were the senior US and Pakistani officers. This was the prime opportunity for only one group that had access to revolutionary type airforce officers, and at least one suicide bomber.
**General Zia + US ambassador + Pak & US generals were all assassinated!
By whom?
**This the point Haris bhai and others are trying to explore. There are hundreds of theories. However we now have much better view of the situation back then (hindsight is always 20/20).
If we look at the terrorist acts within Pakistan and internationally, Gen. Zia was surely assassinated by Al Qaida suicide bomber(s). His C-130 was ripe with targets considering the number of Americans and pro-American Pakistanis in that plane.
And only one group has consistently attacked American and pro-American targets for many years now. And all of us know who that group is!
The same group (and not the exact same men) have been responsible for assassination attempts on may Pakistani Generals including Gen. Musharraf, Core commander of Karachi, PAF chief etc.
General Zia’s mysterious plane crash is somewhat similar to the plane crash that killed PAF chief Mushaf Ali Mir in 2003. Even though Gen. Zia’s plane went down immediately after take off, the plane of Air Chief went down while in flight. Mushaf Ali Mir was going to visit Kohat air base in preparation for Pakistan’s action against AQ terrorists.
Fast forward to 2007, immediately after lal masjid fiasco, there was an attempt to bring down Gen. Musharraf’s plane.
The common thread in all these assassination attempts is just one. AQ infected terrorists. Whoever blames CIA, or Qadianis, or Shias is simply trying to shift the blame away from Arab terrorists and Al-Qaida.
