Newspaper Article (Did KGB Kill Zia)

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Did the KGB kill Zia?August 17, 2012 1 . Answe ring some que stions on World Hijab

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Zia, due to the geopolitical circumstances, was afforded a long list of possible

enmities. To put things in perspective, he had been targeted on at least six

previous occasions. PHOTO: FILE

T his year marks the 24th death anniversary of General Ziaul

Haq. His airplane called PAK-1 (Model C-130 Hercu les) crashed

on A ugust 17, 1988 about five m inutes after taking off from

Bahawalpur (Zia had flown t here to w itne ss a US M1 Abrams tank

demonstration).

Zia, due to the geopolitical circumstances, was afforded a long list of

possible enmities. To put things in perspective, he had been targeted

on at least six previous occasions including an especially close save

form a missile fired at his plane. The broad spectrum of his enemies

ranged from the Bhutto family domestically to the Red Army fighting

in Afghanistan.

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3/18


In his book Ghost, Fred Burton (now Vice President for Counter

Intelligence and Corporate Security at Stratfor) provides a compelling

insight into the investigations jointly carried out by the Pakistanis and

the Americans, to which he was a part of as the senior investigator

on behalf of Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). Two Americans

diplomats (American ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Lewis Raphel

and Brigadier General Herbert M Wassom, the head of the US

military aid mission to Pakistan) had also lost their lives in the crash.

A comm on misconception is that the two Am ericans were persuaded

by Zia to accompany him. This cant be any less true as Mel Harrison

(US embassys Regional Security Officer), admitted to Burton that the

American ambassador had swapped places with him on the final

minute as he wanted an opportunity to discuss with General Zia an

attack on an American nun.

The investigation team started ruling out the different causes one by

one. The weather was hot and clear and any chance of lightning

striking the airplane was ruled out. The aircraft was fuelled at

Chaklala Airbase and any possible contamination was checked for

with the remaining fuel at the base and that was ruled out too. Two

crates of mangoes and couple of model aircraft were brought on

board all of which were visually screened only. A bomb aboard,

however, was also eliminated as an option due to the lack of any

signature damage found in cases of a bomb explosion and also

because of the small wreckage radius. Moreover, the autopsy of

Brigadier Wassom showed that he had not inhaled any smoke which

proved the absence of any large fire or an on board explosive.

Methuselah, witness to the final minutes before the crash, told the

team that the plane had started moving up and down mimicking the

movement of a roller coaster until the crash. This meant the crash

was not deliberate. He also stated nothing from outside had hit the

plane. Based on this testimony and lack of any other credible evidence

at the crash site, a missile hit was also crossed out as an option.

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4/18


Strangely, a cockpit voice recorder wasnt installed on the plane but

the communication tower testified that the correspondence with them

was routine and the pilots had not issued a Mayday. However, the

Cessna security plane flying ahead of PAK-1 did hear a momentary

transmission from PAK-1 just before it crashed. Someone inside the

aircraft had shouted Mashhood! Mashhood!. The commanding

pilots name was Wing Commander Mashhood Hussain and was

handpicked by General Zia himself. The Wing Commander and the

co-pilot were in top mental and physical condition to fly the so piloterror was not possible either. The tower reported, however, that it was

not the co-pilot but someone from inside of the VIP suit had screamed

the commanding pilots name.

So it boiled down to one of the two things; either there was some sort

of a mechanical disaster or someone had taken out both the pilots

before they could even manage a distress call. The auxiliary systems

made into the Hercules can allow for very rough circumstances and

an absolute loss of control due to the failure of one of the systems wasrather implausible. Plus, the airplane had only flown less than 50

hours since a major overhaul. In contrast, incapacitation of both

pilots would explain the absence of the distress call which would have

certainly been made had it only been some sort of technical failure

giving the pilots ample time to react and make that call.

Several chunks of the debris were sent to the Federal Bureau of

Investigation for further examination in the US. The striking

conclusion the results led to was that the plane had not crashed of a

mechanical mishap. Most importantly, their tests revealed traces ofseveral sinister elements namely antimony, chlorine and phosphorous

in the cockpit. I quote Fred Burton here:

Antimony. Phosphorous. Chlorine. All are ingredients in

various types of nerve gas Somebody planted nerve gas in the

cockpit. This can only mean one thing: President Zia and his

staff were assassinated.

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5/18


During their own investigation, the Pakistanis conclude that

a small detonator had been aboard the plane. Attached either

to a timer or a barometric pressure device, the detonator

touched off a very-small-yield explosion, perhaps just big

enough to blow the top of a Coke can placed on the flight deck.

The interior of the C-130 is so loud I doubt anyone would have

heard such a small pop.

But thats what killed the pilots.

The pilots never knew what hit them. The crash team

determined that the pilots were not wearing their oxygen

masks at the time of the crash That rules out a poisoned

oxygen system and lends much more weight to the Coke can

theory

Now all thats left is to figure out who did it.

He argues that at the time only three intelligence agencies had thecapability to carry out such a sophisticated assassination; CIA,

Mossad and the KGB. RAW was not deemed to have the competence

to carry this out.

Since Zia was Americas biggest Cold War ally after Britain, the lack

of motive gets CIA off the list of suspects. Due to the nuclear

program, there was considerable tension between Zia and the Israelis,

who had also taken out Iraqs nuclear program in 1981 w ith a

stunning air raid that signalled to the rest of the Muslim world thatIsrael was prepared to go to any length to ensure that an Islamic

country did not get the bomb. However, since Pakistan had already

acquired full nuclear capability much before August 1988 (mainly due

to the blind eye US had towards the Pakistanis), killing Zia belatedly

made little sense; so Mossad was struck of the list too. That left the

KGB on the suspect list.

The KGB had a history of using special chemicals for killing (Georgi

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6/18


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Markov assassination), it also had the operational

capability, coupled with the possible help of Indian intelligence, aided

with a very casual security at Bahawalpur or elsewhere (the plant at

Chaklala gave access to C-130s for maintenance routinely this puts

forth the idea of a bear trap) gave them the golden opportunity to

carry an assassination out.

Much about the intelligence agency responsible for carrying out this

assassination would have been left at only speculation had it not beenfor Colonel Sergei Tretyakov. He was the highest ranked officer to

defect the SVR (ex-KGB) to the United States. In one of the most

interesting leaks byWikileaks of Stratfor emails shows that Colonel

Tretyakovconfirmed to none other than Fred Burton himself, that

KGB had indeed assassinated Ziaul Haq. Not only that, this

assassination is taught as a case studyat their intelligence academy.

Case closed.

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necessarilyreflect the views and policies of The Express Tribune.

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Ali Aug 17, 2012 - 3:03PM

Intersting , with facts and figures

Recommend 18

Nobody Aug 17, 2012 - 3:33PM

The article is very informative and revealing specially the connection with Wikileaks.

Recommend 18

shihab hamza Aug 17, 2012 - 4:35PM

Sir

The whole wor ld Knows the Kgb was behind the assasination of Zia,

India a part of that ploy was dismissed by Cia, Mr. Branzig has given a de tailed and lengthy

Details of this , Some Pakistani military p ersonals were also included

Recommend 8

muzammil Aug 17, 2012 - 5:11PM

There has always been a misconception about Zias crash! When i asked other people about his

plane crash the people use to say that CIA was behind this crash and others point their finger on

India and Israel. Thats a very detailed and informativ e article and now after reading this article it

seems that KGB was the main culprit behind his assasination! thanks for sharing this piece o f

information!!!

Recommend 3

Readers Comments (42)

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G. Din Aug 17, 2012 - 5:21PM

RAW was not deemed to have the c ompetence to c arry this out.

Phew!!!! Incompetence has its compensations! Yet RAW got dragged in for the possible help of

Indian intelligence. Cant help yourself, can you? Aadatan majboor(Force o f habit).

In one o f the most interesting leaks by Wikileaks of Stratfor emails shows th at Colonel

Tretyakov c onfirmed to none othe r than Fred Burton himse lf, that KGB had indeed assassinated

Ziaul Haq.

Now, if the author knew about this and considered it as clinching ev idence of what he intended toprove, where was the need of beating around the bush? ET probably pays by the number of words!

Recommend 16

Noman Ansari Aug 17, 2012 - 5:40PM

In other news, Shabie Iqbal has now applied for asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy.

Recommend 9

Sohail Anwer Aug 17, 2012 - 6:05PM

Who c are s who kil led Zia Ul Haq, he died like the filthy dog he was, and i believe th at Zia got what

he deserved for killing democracy and tolerance in Pakistan.

Recommend 38

salman Aug 17, 2012 - 6:15PM

The bigger question is why wasnt he killed earlier?

Recommend 37

Hasan Aug 17, 2012 - 7:33PM

I hope ev ery one is going through t he WIkileaks links (click Confirmed and Taught as a Case
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Study) before coming to a conclusion. Not clicking it greatly undermines the position of the

author!

Recommend

Den Aug 17, 2012 - 8:29PM

Thank you KGB! we owe y ou one :)

Recommend 27

Baqar Aug 17, 2012 - 8:32PM

wel l KGB we thank y ou fo r thatbut to o lit tle to o late

Recommend 23

san Aug 17, 2012 - 8:52PM

Zai was and is cruse to Pakistani nation. I am cele brating his death with three crates mangoes. He

was r oasted alive like ch icken an d will be ro asted in hell.

Recommend 20

ss Aug 17, 2012 - 9:09PM

KGB or CIA does it matter??? whoeve r did this really did us a favor

Recommend 22

AA Aug 17, 2012 - 9:51PM

Interesting with facts, .. KGB might have spearheaded ,but involvement of others can`t be ruled

out still !! .

Recommend 1


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AA Aug 17, 2012 - 9:59PM

Interesting with facts KGB might have spearheaded , but still involvement of others can`t be

ruled out ! . Zia had enemies mostly loc al

Recommend

Usama Hamayun Aug 17, 2012 - 10:53PM

Very inte resting artic le replete with fac ts and figur es.

Recommend 1

eric margolis Aug 17, 2012 - 11:17PM

The abov e theo ry was all laid out in my bo ok War at the Top of the World, first published in the

US, Canada, India and Pakistan in 1999-20 00 . There is nothing new abo ut it. But having knownPresident Zia and Gen. Akhtar, and followed the murde r case c arefully, I dont think we have the

final answer.

KGB remains the most likely suspect, but not the only one. By the way, when I was the first western

jou rnal ist t o interv iew senior KGB gener als at their Mosco w headq uarters, the KGB stro ngly denied

any ro le this is just for the reco rd.

Eric Margolis

Toronto

http://www.ericmargolis.com

Recommend 6

S.A. Malik Aug 17, 2012 - 11:36PM

A well-writte n, info rmativ e piec e.

Recommend 1
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Ben Aug 17, 2012 - 11:55PM

General Zia may b e the most unpo pular military dictato r, if viewed from the pr ism of Pakistani

democ racy but historians can not deny the fact that he has left most indelible marks on Pakistans

political, soc ial and religious landscape. He fought Sov iets, using Afghans, of course with Ame rican

dollars and Wahhabi merc enaries and pushed the world into dre adful unipolar er a. He gifts are

drugs, Kalashnikovs, Wahhabi extr emism and Afghan refugees, if we assess his achiev ements from

the prese nt-day standards. But those living in the world of 7 0s and 80s would shrug off this

criticism saying he achieved a feat even the Americans could not dream of with their money andmilitary might. Leav ing aside the deeds or misdee ds of Zia, it is ver y unfortunate that he was killed

in a mysterious air-crash along with 31 other passengers including members of his top-brass, air

crew and A merican diplomats, right in a garrison town which he was v isiting under the

arrangements of the army he was commanding at that time. It was a clear c ase of killing by

powerful political players in connivance with Zias own comrades. Read more at:

http://passivev oices.wordpress.com/2012/ 08/17 /bahawalpur-air-crash-who-killed-the-most-

powerful-military-dictator/

Recommend

Tanzeel Aug 18, 2012 - 12:53AM

That was really nice of the KGB consider ing Pakistans antagonistic role against their

(former?)country . This has to be up there with Jinnah creating the nation and Saad Akbar Babrak

taking out Zias spiritual predecessor, Liaquat Ali Khan in terms of service to the people of

Pakistan.

Recommend 2

Parvez Aug 18, 2012 - 1:08AM

.now te ll us who killed Benazir Bhutto.

Recommend 7

Hassan Aug 18, 2012 - 6:03AM
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Oh, interesting facts. Seems like we are starting to hav e nice b loggers at ET

Recommend 5

Riaz Aug 18, 2012 - 2:52PM

@eric margolis Well it seems here t hat KGB may actually be the final answer if you go thr ough the

wikile ak links where KGBs guy co nfirms that it was their hit. Unless Fred Bur to n was t ry ing to foo l

his colleagues about a 20 year old story he would like to brag about, I think its safe to assume that

it was KGB.

The thing I want to know is, if the A mericans fuelled the Mujahiddeen war against the Russians, the

Russians can no do the same sinc e the Taliban are ver y muc h against US. So what level of

involv ement, if any, does KGB have in strengthening the Taliban? If it was possible then, it co uld be

possible now

Recommend 1

Saad Shams Aug 18, 2012 - 4:34PM

From what I have interpreted after going through various summaries and articles the KGB indeed

stood be hind the murder of the great Zia Ul Haq with little or no help from so c alled Raw.

Of course the involvement of so called Mossad can not be ruled out either since they are against

humanity in general. But y eah in this case KGB is the main culprit.

Fortunately after a few ye ars following this incident KGB was disbanded and transformed to FSB.

But eve n now they are as strong as ever and i wont be surprised if they are accused of more of such

assassinations unless proved otherwise.

Long Live General Zia !

Recommend 2

Tahir Ali Aug 18, 2012 - 5:25PM

While the a uthor may be right ab ou t the mo dus operandi, the reasoning to disc ard CIA as

perpetrator is not logical. After Geneva accord Zia was worthless to the Americans and, in fact,

beco ming a thr eat to the ir lo ng-term interests in t he r egion. By then, CIA had alre ady found a


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pliable leader in the shape of Benazir and for her ascent to power Junejo , under whom ML was

emerging as a formidable force, and Zia were to be taken c are of. Zia was used to remov e Junejo by

feeding him false info that the latter would announce his retire ment during the NA session and

thereafter Zia was eliminated. By A ugust 1988, KGB had many othe r serious issues to tackle then

Zia who was no more relevant for them.

Recommend 2

Imad Uddin Aug 18, 2012 - 6:38PM

Well re searc hed and well p resented. But I hav e reservations on how y ou disr ega rd involv ement of

some other agencies.without corroboration and lateral thinking merely on a superficial

evaluation of motive. But it could be due to the style of the piece that u couldnt put a few

important evaluations.

Recommend 2

curious Aug 18, 2012 - 6:41PM

A. Zia w as persu aded to go for th e pro gram m e by peo ple in t he Arm y

B. Every thing loaded on the Aircraft, including nerv e gas if any, was controlled and

authorised by Pakistan Army .

C. Anoth er General who was supposed to be on the aircraft, preferred to board

another.

D. This Generals aircraft circled the acc ident site to en sure that t here were no

survivors and then it went off without summ oning help or staying back to extend

any.

E. Th e General was a possible successor to Zia.

The people who have the oppo rtunity and the motive are usually the perpetrators.

KGB,RAW,MOSSAD all may have had the motiv e, but not the o pport unity.

The rest is simple deductio n. For help, read- A Case of Exploding Mangoes.

Recommend 6

R lAh di M li


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Ahmadi Muslim Aug 18, 2012 - 10:43PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgu0ErUNB_E

This is how he died!!

Recommend

Wasim Aug 19, 2012 - 4:11AM

The agency or state which killed Zia ul Haq, was a true friend of Pakistan. I salute those who killed

this tower of hypoc risy.

Recommend 3

Aziz Aug 19, 2012 - 9:12AM

Zia got what he dese rv ed hats off to KGB and its agent.

Recommend 2

zishan Aug 19, 2012 - 12:19PM

@Baqar:

good one! :)

Recommend 1

zishan Aug 19, 2012 - 12:27PM

Dear friends,

I am doing some rese arch on black Septembe r of Jordan and zia,s role. the information with

plausible reference needed to address following questions

1. how the permission to participate in black September was authorized by Pakistan military and

what was t he a ctual c hain o f co mmand?

2. what was the post blac k Septemb er relations of Pakistan government with Jor dan ?

3 who authorized the the operation from civil government of Pakistan ?
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3. who authorized the the operation from civil government of Pakistan ?

regard,

zishan hyder

Recommend

shahmeer Aug 19, 2012 - 5:44PM

very inte resting .bu t i do nt think that KGB was behind this.there are mo re chanc es t hatmosaad or CIA were behind this

Recommend

Tahir Ali Aug 19, 2012 - 8:04PM

@Wasim: We as a nation are hypocrites. We call ourselves an ideological state, yet curse Zia who

was instr ume ntal in inde pendence of Centra l Asian Mu slim states fro m Erstwhile USSR. A t least

give the dev il his due.

Another example o f our double standa rds as a na tio n is that we r uled over Hindu major ity in India

for over 1 000 years through brute force and there was no issue at all. As the sy stem changed to

majority r ule, we demanded a separate st ate on grounds that Hindus and Muslims were two

different nations who could not live together. I can give yo u many more examples of our

hypocrisy as a nation, so dont just blame Zia.

Recommend 7

Sachin Aug 19, 2012 - 8:51PM

@shahmeer: I dont get your point, why would CIA kill him, in fact he was a Pro American..

@Tahir Ali: He was the one who m essed up Pakistan with his idiotic policie s..So he is to be blame

for the prese nt conditions of Pakistan

Recommend 1

Cynical Aug 19, 2012 - 11:47PM
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@Tahir A li

@Wasim: We as a nation are hypocrites. We call ourselves an ideological state, yet curse Zia

who was instrumental in independence of Central Asian Muslim states from Erstwhile USSR. At

least give the devil his due.

We cant bec ause of o ur south asian o bse ssio n with sho rt cuts, loo king fo r sim ple answers to

complex issues.

Anothe r examp le o f our d ou ble sta ndard s as a nation is that we ruled o ve r Hindu ma jority in

Ind ia for ov er 1 00 0 y ears throu gh b rute forc e and th ere was no issue a t all . As th e sy ste m

changed to majority rule, we de manded a separate state o n grounds that Hindus and Muslims

were tw o different nations who could not live together.

To be fair you sho uldnt blame the current gene ration for this particular double st andard, its an

inheritance. From the st art we were unde mocratic . One who justified partition because Hindus

and Muslims were two different nations who co uldnt live togethe r is the same one who was

against partition of Punjab and Bengal. Talk about hipo crac y!

Recommend 3

Bilal Aug 20, 2012 - 12:00AM

@shahmeer its people like you who amaze me. Lots of evidence to support the claim in this article

y et y ou just dont ge t it!

Recommend

bangash Aug 20, 2012 - 7:01PM

I will join the othe r co mmentators in pr aising KGB if they indeed eliminated Zia ul Haq.

Recommend

eric margolis Aug 20, 2012 - 7:35PM

@Riaz: No KGB backing for Taliban, but a great de al for the Nor thern A lliance during and after

Massoud who was a KGB asset.

eric margolis
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Newspaper Article (Did KGB Kill Zia)