Avoiding Armageddon 5

Avoiding Armageddon 5

Who killed Gen Zia and Gen Akhter is still a mystery

In the most recent study , based on the interviews with many of Pakistani air force officers , who investigated the crash , Shuja Nawaz concludes that ” many questions still remain ” about why the plane crashed and why the investigation of the crash was so incomplete .

Author

Bruce Riedel

On August 17 , 1988 , Zia and Akhter , who had by then been promoted to chairman  of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several other senior Pakistani generals as well as the U.S ambassador to Pakistan , Arnold Raphel , were killed when their C – 130 aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff. Raphel’s widow was told by American investigators that it was 90 percent certain that the crash was due to a mechanical failure , not sabotage , but immediately suspicions of foul play surfaced . No one ever claimed responsibility , but there are dozens of conspiracy theories about what happened and why .

A thorough and credible investigation has never been conducted . Gen Akhter’s ISI biographer , Br Yousaf , concluded that ” the KGB or Khad ( its Afghan counterpart ) had been involved , but the Americans were eager to see Zia killed now that the jihad was almost over . ”. John Gunther Dean , then the U.S ambassador to India , accused the Israeli secret service , Mossad , of killing Zia , possibly to stop the Pakistan bomb programmed . In the most recent study , based on the interviews with many of Pakistani air force officers , who investigated the crash , Shuja Nawaz concludes that ” many questions still remain ” about why the plane crashed and why the investigation of the crash was so incomplete . Like much else in Pakistan’s history this incident remains a mystery .

Avoiding Armageddon

The Carter and Reagan years

page 99