Rawalpindi conspiracy
The Rawalpindi Conspiracy (also known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case) was an attempted coup d'etat against the government of Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1951. The conspiracy was the first of many subsequent coup attempts against elected governments in the history of Pakistan.[1] The coup was planned by Major General Akbar Khan, a senior commander in the Pakistani army in conjunction with other military officers and left-wing Pakistani politicians.[1]
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[edit] Causes
The main reason behind the coup attempt was the frustration and division within the military caused by Pakistan's failure to occupy the entire territory of the Himalayan kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir.[2] Pakistan's war with India over the territory had ended in a ceasefire in 1948 that left northwestern Kashmir in Pakistani hands, and the rest with India. The ceasefire was deeply resented in the Pakistani military.[2] Many regarded it as a blunder, which could allow Indian forces to strengthen their position in Kashmir and deny Pakistani forces the opportunity to completely occupy the territory. The government of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan resisted the urgings of Pakistani commanders to launch another attack on Indian forces in favor of a more moderate policy.[2]
[edit] Participants
Eleven military officers and four civilians were involved in the conspiracy.[2] The main person responsible for planning the coup was Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan, the chief of general staff of the Pakistani army.[2] During the 1947 war, Khan had led Pakistani forces under the pseudonym of "General Tariq."[2] He was based in the northern city of Rawalpindi, where the army headquarters were located, while the political capital of the state was in the southern city of Karachi at the time. The civilian conspirators included leading Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who was notably active in left-wing politics and sympathetic to the Communist Party of Pakistan and Sajjad Zaheer .[1] Akbar Khan's wife, Naseem Shahnawaz Khan, was also believed to have motivated her husband to undertake this plot.[1][3][4]
[edit] Exposure and trial
The conspiracy was foiled after the government was informed of the coup attempt by one of the confidantes of Akbar Khan.[5] Government forces immediately arrested Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan and the other conspirators, including Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The army commander-in-chief, Gen. Muhammad Ayub Khan and the defence secretary Maj. Gen. Iskander Mirza had both remained loyal to the government. Ayub Khan immediately ordered the army troops to surround and take control of the army headquarters, where Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan was based. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan announced the foiling of the coup on March 9, 1951. The government passed the Rawalpindi Conspiracy (Special Tribunal) Act to set up a special tribunal to investigate the conspiracy.[4] A trial was held for the 15 individuals accused, namely - Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan, Air Commodore M. K. Janjua, Maj. Gen. Nazir Ahmed, Brigadier Sadiq Khan, Brigadier M. A. Latif Khan, Lt. Col. Zia-ud-Din, Lt. Col. Niaz Muhammad Arbab, Captain Khizar Hayat, Maj. Hassan Khan, Major Ishaq Muhammad, Captain Zafrullah Poshni, Mrs. Naseem Akbar Khan, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Syed Kaswar Gardezi, Syed Sajjad Zaheer and Muhammad Hussain Ata.[1][4][5]
After an 18-month trial conducted in secrecy, Maj. Gen. Khan and Faiz Ahmed Faiz were both convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.[5] Their defence lawyer was the notable Bengali Muslim politician Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.[3][5] When Suhrawardy became the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1957, he obtained a reprieve for most of the conspirators.[3]
[edit] Aftermath
Major General Akbar Khan was soon rehabilitated in Pakistani political life, becoming an adviser to Pakistani politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Upon coming to power in 1971, Bhutto appointed Akbar Khan to be chief of national security.[3] Faiz continued to publish many works of poetry, and was appointed to the National Council for Arts by the Bhutto government. Gen. Ayub Khan launched the first successful military coup against the government of President Iskander Mirza in 1958, assuming the reins of the presidency himself until 1969. Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated later in 1951, in October, in an unrelated attack by a Pashtun separatist in Rawalpindi.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e "Rawalpindi conspiracy case". The Nation. 2009-08-27. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/27-Aug-2009/Rawalpindi-conspiracy-case. Retrieved 2010-09-17.
- ^ a b c d e f Robert Wirsing (2003). Kashmir in the shadow of war: regional rivalries in a nuclear age. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 173–75. ISBN 9780765610898.
- ^ a b c d S.M. Ahmad (2001). A Lucky Pilot: Memoirs of Retired Wing Commander Lanky Ahmad. Ferozsons. ISBN 9789690013712.
- ^ a b c Hasan Zaheer (1998). The times and trial of the Rawalpindi conspiracy 1951: the first coup attempt in Pakistan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195778922.
- ^ a b c d "Rawalpindi conspiracy case". The Nation. 2009-08-27. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/27-Aug-2009/Rawalpindi-conspiracy-case/1. Retrieved 2010-09-17.
