All language subtitles for Infamous Assassinations s01e11 Zia ul Haq

August 17, 1988, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.

A C -130 Hercules equipped as a VIP
transport takes off from a military

A few minutes later, the aircraft is
seen four points up and down.

Its engines seem to be running okay.

Suddenly, it plunges into the desert.
There are no survivors.

The leader of a country at the hub of
crucial superpower confrontations is

He has been assassinated in the most
mysterious circumstances.

August 17, 1988, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.

The fireball after the crash wipes out
all 31 people on board the C -130 VIP

transport. Among them are some of the
most important and powerful in Pakistan.

The nation's president, General Zia -ul
-Haq.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, the chief of the Army General

and eight other top generals.

plus the U .S. ambassador to Pakistan
and the head of the U .S. military

mission.

Because there are both Pakistani and U
.S. fatalities, both Pakistani and U .S.

air crash investigators are called in.

Just before their report is published,
rumors appear in the U .S. press that

crash had been caused by a mechanical
failure.

But when the report does appear, It's
clear that both the US and Pakistani

investigators rejected this idea and
believe that some sort of sabotage is

responsible.

Despite this, the story of a mechanical
malfunction continues to be the one

emphasized by both governments.

No further investigations are conducted,
and the whole matter is allowed to

drop. Why?

There had been several earlier attempts
to kill Pakistan's president, and many

powerful and ruthless people would be
glad to see him dead and happy to help

on his way.

Was this an assassination with too many
suspects?

A case where it would have been too
embarrassing to pin the blame on any one

party in the complex geopolitical game
which was swirling around Pakistan.

the target of what was almost certainly
an assassination, was born in 1924 at

Jalandhar, in the northwest of what was
then British India.

He was commissioned into a cavalry
regiment of the Indian Army in 1943 and

fought in Burma during the successful
campaign to defeat the Japanese.

When British India is partitioned into
Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan in 1947,

Zia joins the Pakistan Army as a major.

He's recognized as an able but not
brilliant officer, but nevertheless

steadily.

By 1967 -70, he is in charge of a
Pakistani training mission to Jordan,

which time he sees action against the
Black September terrorists.

April 1st, 1976, Islamabad.

Zia's big break comes when Prime
Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto appoints

of the Army Staff over the heads of
several more senior generals.

Bhutto chooses Zia as a non -political
figure who will be no threat in an

increasingly turbulent political arena.

But he realizes how wrong he was just
over a year later.

July the 5th, 1977, Islamabad.

Zia leads a coup against Bhutto's
government and declares martial law.

For the second time in less than 30
years of independence, the democratic

government has been overthrown by the
military in Pakistan.

Zia has reached the top of a very
slippery pole.

Already he has enemies, and soon he will
have many more.

The country which Zia now rules had been
founded as a Muslim state in 1947, when

Muhammad Ali Jinnah refused to accept a
unified India.

It has eastern and western provinces,
separated by more than a thousand miles

northern India.

From the moment that the partition of
British India is decided, religious and

ethnic tensions erupt.

Huge population shifts begin as Muslims
and Hindus living on the wrong sides of

the new frontiers try to reach their new
motherland.

Intimidation and massacres kill
millions.

Partition has been so rushed that many
border disputes remain.

The worst is over who should control
Kashmir.

Its population is mainly Muslim, but it
has a Hindu ruler.

At the last moment, it is given to
India.

Within a few months of independence, the
two new nations are at war.

It ends with Pakistan controlling about
one -third of Kashmir and giving help to

separatists in the Indian -controlled
areas.

A running sore has developed, which will
poison relations between them for more

than half a century.

From the outset, democracy is never
secure in Pakistan, unlike India, which

prides itself on being the world's
largest.

By 1956, political chaos has become so
great that the head of the army, General

Ayub Khan, leads a coup and declares
himself president.

In 1965, India and Pakistan go to war
again over Kashmir.

It ends in stalemate, with the partition
line virtually unchanged.

The western province of Pakistan tries
to secede and declare independence of

state of Bangladesh.

Pakistan's military government sends in
the army, which tries to suppress the

independence movement with great
brutality.

Inevitably, India sees an opportunity to
weaken its old enemy and intervenes

militarily to achieve independence for
Bangladesh.

Popular unrest in the remainder of
Pakistan after this defeat forces the

cede power a year later to a
democratically elected government led by

Ali Bhutto.

In 1972, spurred on by rumours that
India has begun a nuclear research

programme, Bhutto authorises Pakistan
scientists to begin their own.

But while this new source of tension
between the two countries is building

Economic mismanagement and political
infighting are reducing Pakistan to

Mindful that Pakistan's armed forces
have already staged one coup, Bhutto

attempts to guard against a repeat
performance by selecting a relatively

and apparently non -political general as
his chief of staff.

Zia -ul -Haq is promoted over the heads
of several more senior officers.

This decision turns out to be fatal for
Bhutto.

July the 5th, 1977, Islamabad.

Zia mounts his coup, ominously codenamed
Fair Play, and makes himself president

of Pakistan.

Within a year, Bhutto is arrested on
trumped -up charges of murdering a

political opponent, and sentenced to
death.

Despite widespread international protest
and pleas for mercy, Zia confirmed the

sentence.

April the 4th, 1979, Islamabad.

At dawn, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is hanged.
Members of his family vow to avenge him.

Zia has made himself some dangerous
enemy.

And with him, he goes on to make others.

At home, Zia introduces strict Islamic
laws.

Large numbers of moderate Muslims and
politicians are opposed to this

fundamentally.

He also secretly speeds up Pakistan's
nuclear research program under Dr. Abdul

Qadir Khan and adds to the tension with
India by continuing to support the

Kashmiri separatists operating in the
Indian control zone.

and then by sending help to Sikh
separatists, stirring up trouble in

northwestern India.

Matters become immeasurably worse in
October 1984, when these Sikh

are responsible for the murder of Indira
Gandhi, India's prime minister.

Her country and its new leader, her son
Rajiv, are outraged.

Another potential enemy is added to the
list of those who might prefer to see

Zia disposed of.

December 25, 1979, Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union invades Pakistan's
nation.

Zia's position on the world stage is
transformed.

Zia immediately announces that he will
help the Afghan opposition, the regional

warlords who begin attacking Soviet
communications within days, and make

parts of the country a no -go area for
the Red Army.

The Soviet leadership is added to the
list of those who might want Zia dead.

His decision transforms Pakistan's
relationship with the United States,

had hitherto been cool about Pakistan's
nuclear ambitions.

Now, Pakistan's position on a new front
line of the Cold War makes the Americans

swiftly become much more friendly.

The country soon becomes a conduit for U
.S. arms going to the various

Mujahideen rebel groups fighting the
Soviet army.

But by the mid -1980s, the Soviets are
getting on top, with their aggressive

of Hind helicopter gunships and Spetsnaz
special forces.

The situation is transformed when the U
.S. starts supplying finger -handheld

anti -aircraft missiles.

which soon drive the Soviet helicopters
from the sky and remove one of the Red

Army's major advantages.

The cost of military involvement in
Afghanistan is a major factor in

accelerating the collapse of the Soviet
Union.

May 1988, Moscow.

The new Soviet government of Mikhail
Gorbachev announces that a pullout from

Afghanistan will begin.

But Zia does not let up his support of
certain Mujahideen leaders to ensure

an Afghan government friendly to
Pakistan will emerge.

At the same time, increasing tensions
between factions within Zia's ruling

have led him to promise democratic
elections within 90 days.

Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of the
executed Prime Minister, returns to

and announces that she will be taking
power.

It is at this delicate political time
that Zia is asked to go to watch a

demonstration of the new U .S. main
battle tank, the M1 Abrams, at the

ground near Bahawalpur.

Zia is busy, but reluctantly agrees to
go because the whole of his Army High

Command will be there, and he does not
wish to be seen as flighting them.

August 17, 1988, Bahawalpur.

The demonstration of the Abrams tank is
a fiasco.

In a firing test, it misses its target
ten times out of ten and then breaks

down.

Bahawalpur Air Base, early afternoon.

Zia returns by helicopter and then
boards his personal transport, a

adapted Lockheed Hercules C -130,
codenamed Pack 1.

Feated beside him is the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff and former head

of the Inter -Service Intelligence
Agency, Pakistan's equivalent of the US

Also on board are the Chief of the
Pakistani Army General Staff and eight

top generals.

Plus the US Ambassador to Pakistan,
Arnold L. Raphael.

And General Herbert M. Wasson.

the head of the U .S. military aid
mission to the country.

The Hercules has an experienced four
-man flight crew. The pilot, Wing

Mahdoud Hassan, was personally selected
by Zia. The rest of the crew also have

top security clearance.

Baha 'u'llah air bits.

At 3 .46 in the afternoon, the Hercules
takes off.

A few moments later, the control tower
asks for its position.

It is standard procedure.

The pilot responds, Pack 1, stand by.

Then there is silence.

The control tower starts calling
desperately.

About two minutes later, villagers
working in nearby fields see the

lurching up and down in the sky as if on
an invisible roller coaster.

After its third lurch, it heads deeply
downwards and crashes straight into the

desert with its engine still running
normal.

It is buried deep in the earth.

Then it explodes in a ball of flesh.

The only survivor of the Pakistan army's
top brass, is the deputy chief of

staff. He had taken off immediately
after the Hercules in an executive jet

follow it back to Islamabad.

Seeing what has happened, and sure that
there can be no survivors in the flaming

wreckage, General Begg flies straight
back to the capital.

There, he imposes martial law, but
announces that the planned election will

still go ahead.

Because there are both U .S. and
Pakistani fatalities, a joint team of

-U .S. air crash investigators is called
in.

Normally, America's FBI would expect to
be involved, but this time it is

forbidden to take part.

There is only a cursory examination of
the badly burned bodies of the pilots

found in the wreckage before they are
cremated.

October 14, 1988, Washington.

The U .S. State Department leaks a story
to the New York Times headlined,

Malfunctions Seen as Cause of Zia Crash.

But when the report comes out three days
later, the Times' story is now

headlined, Pakistan Points to Sabotage
in Zia Crash.

Immediately after this, the U .S.
government issues a briefing.

which suggests that there has been a
difference of opinion between the U .S.

investigators, who believe that a
mechanical failure has been the cause of

crash, and the Pakistanis, who are
certain that it is sabotage.

In reality, when the lead U .S.
investigator later gives evidence to a

congressional subcommittee, he states
that no evidence of a mechanical failure

had been found.

Despite US misinformation and the
hushing up of the inquiry, both the

and US investigators end by being sure
it is neither a mechanical malfunction

nor a major explosion on board, nor a
missile hit.

This only leaves sabotage. But if so,
who did it? And why was it never

investigated?

August 17th, 1988, Bahawalpur.

Pak 1 is still in one piece, with the
engine still running when it hits the

ground. It has two separate backup
control systems, and there is no sign

either has malfunctioned.

But the paw -poising up and down in the
final steep dive seen by witnesses are

typical of a C -130 left to fly itself
without autopilot.

Both sets of investigators finally come
to the conclusion that the crew has

somehow been incapacitated and the plane
left to fly itself.

But there is no black box flight
recorder of their final conversations or

actions.

Nevertheless, there is the long silence
after the pilot says, pack one, stand

by, before the aircraft crashes and
explodes.

There is no attempt to send a mayday
message.

The aircraft's radio is apparently
working.

When ground recordings are examined, a
very faint voice, probably that of Zia's

military secretary, Brigadier Najib
Ahmed, can be heard calling the pilot's

name, Mashdoud, Mashdoud.

It sounds as if he has opened the
cockpit door to find out why the

flying erratically.

It begins to look as if the crew have
somehow been incapacitated very suddenly

shortly after take -off.

But how could this have been done?

When the wreckage is examined by the U
.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and

Tobacco in Washington, minute traces of
PNET, a secondary explosive sometimes

used for detonators, are found.

The investigators begin to speculate
that a low -level detonator may have

used to burst a flask of incapacitating
gas about the size of a drink can.

A repair crew has worked on the C -130
at Bahawalpur Air Base, and it would

been simple to put such a device on
board.

Suitable nerve gases exist.

The US has developed one, named VX, at
the Army's Chemical Warfare Center at

Aberdeen, Maryland.

And Soviet forces are known to have used
one against Mujahideen guerrillas

during clearance operations in
Afghanistan.

But none of these questions are allowed
to disrupt the official story of a

mechanical failure.

The whole matter is soon hushed up with
no further investigation.

Soon people are speculating that Zia's
death has come at such a delicate time

the great game being played out in
Afghanistan that to accuse any one

suspect or country of carrying out an
assassination would have been

destabilizing. It was better to let
matters lie.

rather than stir up controversy.

The Soviets might well have wanted Zia
dead in revenge for Pakistan's arming of

the Mujahideen.

The Soviets had just halted the
withdrawal of their forces as a protest

continuing attacks prompted by Pakistan.

The pull -out soon resumed, but any
accusation of Soviet responsibility for

Zia's murder might well have delayed it
or scuppered it completely.

The Soviets certainly had the means to
carry out such an operation.

They trained the Afghan Secret Service,
which had already killed or wounded over

1 ,400 people in Pakistan.

The Soviets also had stockpiles of the
necessary nerve gas and had shown that

they would have no inhibitions about
using it.

But the United States was convinced that
the Soviets would not have risked the

detente by killing the U .S. ambassador.

The Indian government, led by Rajiv
Gandhi, held Zia responsible for arming

separatists. Some of them had recently
killed Rajiv's mother, Indira.

There was also the ongoing tension in
Kashmir, where Zia was arming the

militants.

But to accuse India of his assassination
would destabilize an already tense

situation and hardly help to maintain
peace in the region.

An even more virulent enemy of Zia is
Mir Murtaza Bhutto, the son of the

executed Zulfikar and brother of the
leading opposition politician, Benazir

Bhutto. He had the guerrilla group
dedicated to overthrowing Zia.

This has already tried to shoot down Pak
-1 on one occasion.

But to accuse Bhutto's family of Zia's
murder would jeopardize Pakistan's

projected elections and the return to a
very fragile democracy.

It was known that Zia had been planning
to make changes amongst the army high

command. Both he and the army chief of
staff had been reluctant to go to the

tank trial.

They had only been persuaded by army
colleagues.

Could some disgruntled generals have
decided to save their careers by getting

rid of him?

It was noted that the deputy chief of
staff had travelled on a separate plane,

but after his assassination, he made no
attempt to seize power and allowed the

democratic election to go ahead.

This brought Benazir Bhutto to power and
ended army control, at least

temporarily.

Apart from these immediate suspects,
Fingers were pointed at several other

directly involved parties who might have
wanted Zia dead.

Ayatollah Khomeini's Shiite Muslim Iran,
after eight years of a seemingly

endless war with Saddam Hussein's Sunni
-dominated Iraq, was becoming

increasingly suspicious of the growing
power of Sunni Pakistan under Zia on its

other borders.

With the Soviets pulling out, The Afghan
warlords were jockeying for power and

influence. One in particular, Boubadine
Hekmatyar, had fallen out seriously with

Zia.

Inevitably, there was a suggestion that
now that the Soviets were withdrawing,

the US might want Zia out of power.

There was a danger that he was now
arming the Taliban extremists among the

rebels who were known to be profoundly
anti -American.

Some years later, The then U .S.
ambassador to India, John Gunter Dean,

suggested that Israel's secret service,
Mossad, might have been involved.

As its attack on the Iraqi nuclear
facility at Osirak had shown, Israel had

always been paranoid about the
possibility that one of its Arab enemies

acquire an atomic weapon.

It was known to be concerned that Zia
was developing a Muslim bomb and that

might be supplied to an Arab opponent.

When he expressed his concerns to the
State Department, Dean was dismissed.

Like an old -fashioned whodunit, almost
everyone involved in the region had

reasons to want Zia dead, and several
had the means to do it and make it look

like an accident.

But no further investigations into the
assassination of Zia have ever been

carried out.

No detective has ever gathered all the
suspects together in the drawing room

then unmasked the real villain.

probably because the truth would have
been too embarrassing, and almost any

solution would have caused even more
problems in a volatile region.

Sadly, the death of Zia -ul -Haq and the
restraint over investigating whoever

carried it out still has not paid off in
a lasting peace in the region.