General Pervez Musharraf Takes Over The Country – October 12, 1999

Описание: Who had ordered military takeover on Oct 12, 1999 in the absence of the then army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf? Gen Aziz or was it all pre-planned by the former president himself before he left Pakistan for Sri Lanka, as he apprehended former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif's plan to sack him. A retired Lt-Gen revealed the inside story of this most unprecedented coup.

Gen Aziz, who was second in command, ordered the action and Rawalpindi Corps Commander Gen Mahmood executed the plan, while Karachi Corps Commander Gen Usmani took over control of the metropolis, where Musharraf's plane finally landed.

These three generals had been briefed by Musharraf prior to his departure, while retired Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool was also aware of the plan, a retired general, who was holding an important position, exclusively told me on the condition of anonymity. One of the reasons why Musharraf apprehended action from the PM was his meeting with Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar a few weeks before the takeover, in which he had warned, "I am not Jahangir Karamat”.

“Yes, these four generals were well aware of the plan and I came to know when I got a call from Mahmood on that day and when I inquired how could we takeover in the absence of the chief, I was told that the chief's consent is there,” he disclosed.

Later, Gen Mahmood moved took the 111 Brigade to arrest Sharif and also Gen Ziauddin Butt, just hours after the PM appointed him as army chief –a decision rejected by the military.

“Both Aziz and Mahmood were at a tennis court, when they received the news the sacking of Musharraf and the appointment of new chief. They rushed to GHQ's operation room to execute the plan,” he added.

On ground, the order for takeover was given by Gen Aziz after the senior commanders decided not to accept the new chief or sacking of Musharraf. All this made this coup unprecedented as on the one hand they refused the PM's constitutional order and, on the other, also took the risk of not accepting the new chief, which created confusion within the army for few hours.

The three main generals – Aziz, Mahmood and Usmani – had never spoken on the issue unlike some other generals, some of whom had even written books on their love and hate relationship with Musharraf.

The former general further said, “The treatment meted out to Gen Butt in the presence of Gen Mahmood really surprised me as the two were once very close to each other. Gen Butt later told me that he never expected him to be so insulting towards," he said.

Gen Butt later faced solitary confinement and court martial and suffered a lot. What happened to Sharif is now history. But between 1999 and 2000, the thinking within the establishment was to enhance his sentence from life imprisonment to death. In a way, some wanted to make him a horrible example. A Saudi intervention rescued him and was given asylum after a 10 years deal.

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