ISLAMABAD, 3 August — One of the key characters of Oct. 12, 1999, high political drama, Lt. Gen. Zia-ud-Din, was dismissed from service yesterday for offenses prejudicial/detrimental to good order and military discipline. Probably, it was first incidence in the history Pakistan Army that a 3-star general was dismissed from service and that too a soldier who was heading the elite intelligence outfit of the country.
Zia will get no benefits and even he is not entitled to tag with his name the army rank, though he was reportedly set free yesterday after being kept in custody since Oct. 12, 1999, when the armed forces seized power and dismissed the government of Nawaz Sharif.
Lt. Gen. Zia was appointed Army chief by the deposed Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, in a TV bulletin in his abortive attempt to replace COAS Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Zia was heading Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) when Sharif decided to sack the Army chief, though his attempt was foiled by Pakistan armed forces at a time when Gen. Pervez Musharraf was on board PIA flight coming from Colombo.
“PA-6989, Lt. Gen. Zia-ud-Din has been dismissed from service for offenses prejudicial/detrimental to good order and military discipline,” said a press release issue by the ISPR yesterday.
Senior officials say that he was not court-martialed, but on the recommendations of the Army chief, the president approved the dismissal of Zia-ud-Din, who was caught by his over-ambitions to become Army chief through an ill-conceived and a highly faulty, or for many, a childish move to replace the Army chief through connivance with the deposed prime minister. “There was enough evidence, witnesses and material to dismiss Zia from the service,” said a senior official.
The other military officer, who got dismissal orders, was military secretary to the deposed prime minister, Brig. Javed Malik, who reportedly pulled a gun on an on-duty soldier. So both the military officers involved in Oct. 12 conspiracy were dismissed from service, though the timing of Zia’s dismissal is such that the Oct. 12 legacy is coming to its end at least for those involved from the highly-disciplined and professional Pakistan Army.
Some of the political aides to the deposed prime minister, like Nisar Ali Khan, Ishaq Dar, Saifur Rehman, Mujeebur Rehman (non-political figure), Ghous Ali Shah and Abdalian Saeed Mehdi, were still languishing in jail or are in protective custody. Some of them are now facing charges in the accountability courts.
The joke of Zia issuing orders from the prime minister’s house as so-called Army chief is still fresh in the minds of many senior officers, who received his orders on wire at the military headquarters and sharing laughter. Zia had reportedly started issuing orders on Oct. 12 evening without knowing that the armed forces had moved to seize power, and the prime minister, his aides, and those involved in the conspiracy were taken into custody.
