October 12: Mr. Prime Minister, have you consulted Abaji?

It was 21 years ago on October 12, summer had left. The yellow sun was nice during the day, but the frost felt more at night.

At that time this Zaminzad was in his 16th year, as a Class 9 student, I spent the rest of my time at home with Abuji’s funeral, just a room filled with books, magazines and newspapers. There was room for a cot, a table and two chairs. In those days, TV was bad, so the main source of current affairs was the radio after ‘Naoy Waqt’, which used to be on Abu Ji’s desk. Those were strange days too. Due to his restless nature, Abu used to sleep on the cot most of the time. When we used to come from school, we used to read to them the Fikahia column ‘Sar Rahe’ and the editorial of the old times. During this time, he used to catch us on wrong pronunciation.

October 12, 1999 also passed as usual. It was Monday. After coming home from school I did my homework and started preparing for the English test the next day. In Government High School, Ouch Sharif, I had session (A) of Class 9, which was in charge of Mr. Mahmood Akbar Awan. Getting ready, I entered Abu’s room with my English book. He was busy reading a book, the radio was playing.

In the five o’clock news, this newscaster, after broadcasting the news about the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to Shujaabad, broadcasted the news that Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf was retired and replaced by Ziauddin. Butt has been appointed as the new Army Chief.

Commenting on the news, Abu said that the army may not tolerate this move of Nawaz Sharif. Sirsham suddenly broadcast of Radio Pakistan was interrupted. At eight o’clock in the night, in BBC’s ‘Sir Bain’ program, Waqar Ahmed, while reporting the dismissal of Nawaz Sharif government, simply said that the army has taken over the power of the country. Later, at 10:00 p.m., the broadcasting of Radio Pakistan was restored and apart from broadcasting the national anthem, it was announced intermittently that the army had taken over the power of the country. will do

To listen to the speech of General Pervez Musharraf, I was waiting with Abu in his room in the bed of his bed. I didn’t even know the name of the speech, forced by sleep, I finally went to sleep. Announced to thwart the ‘conspiracy’ against Now he himself did not know in what capacity he should rule. The word martial law was not even used in the speech. Neither did any term like martial law administrator come to his tongue.

This fourth ‘takeover’ in the history of Pakistan was unique in the sense that no false justification of a serious political and constitutional crisis was carved for it, but the reason for the overthrow of an elected constitutional government was purely personal. Kargil had become a source of rift between the Prime Minister and the Army Chief and the matter reached a point of distrust.

According to General Shahid Aziz, in the last meeting before General Pervez Musharraf went to Sri Lanka, the decision was that in his absence, if the Prime Minister takes action to remove him from the chair of the army chief, then the government will be overthrown. Meetings of this series were going on at his house for several days, in which apart from Shahid Aziz, General Mehmood, General Aziz Khan, General Ehsanul Haque, Brigadier Rashid Qureshi and Chief’s Principal Staff Officers were present.

Brigadier Siddiq Salik on the fall of Dhaka Witness to Surrender was written (in Urdu ‘I saw Dhaka sink’), by Colonel Ashfaq Hussain on Kargil Witness to Blunder wrote Its final chapterThe Longest Day is on October 12. Colonel Ashfaq was then in the ISPR and he also had the ‘honour’ of writing General Musharraf’s address to the nation that night.

Colonel Ashfaq was in Karachi, General Musharraf had landed in Karachi that evening and his address was also from there.

The story of this ‘longest day’ reveals that Defense Secretary Lt Gen (retd) Iftikhar Ali Khan was fast asleep at home due to endoscopy, when Begum Sahiba was asked on the phone to wake him up and reach the airport. At some point (where the Prime Minister’s plane was arriving after the Shujaabad rally), the Prime Minister took him in the car and told him that he had a small job to do, a notification that General Musharraf was to retire and become General. Ziauddin has been appointed as the new Chief of Army Staff.

A surprised General Iftikhar asked, ‘Mr Prime Minister, have you consulted Abaji or Shahbaz Sharif?’

‘No, don’t even tell them, just do what you’re told.’

General Iftikhar, finding the Prime Minister steadfast in his intention, said with great gentleness, ‘For this it is necessary that I be given written orders.’

Alighting from the car at the Prime Minister’s House, the Prime Minister asked his military secretary, Brigadier Javed, to give a written order to General Iftikhar, and while climbing the stairs, pointing to a room, said to General Iftikhar, ‘Stay there and someone. Do not attempt to contact.’ The prime minister also said that he would not meet anyone, and wanted to deal with an important matter first.

Meanwhile, the Military Secretary called General Ziauddin that the Prime Minister wanted to meet him immediately. On reaching the Prime Minister’s House, he was informed that General Musharraf was being dismissed and appointed as the Army Chief. After that, the Prime Minister took the file of these orders and went to the President’s House for the ratification signature of the President of Pakistan Rafiq Tarar.

This was also news to General Ziauddin who was still six months away from retirement and was looking for some ‘busyness’ after his retirement. On his return from the President’s House, the formal ‘ritual’ of appointing General Ziauddin as the Army Chief took place. He had come to the Prime Minister House in a uniform with three flowers, now one more flower was needed, Brigadier Javed took one flower from his shoulders and placed it on General Ziauddin’s shoulders. The new Army Chief contacted the Military Secretary of the Pakistan Army, Major General, on phone, informed him of his appointment and directed him to issue two posting orders, immediately removing General Mahmood and General Aziz from their posts and replacing them. General Salim Haider was appointed as 10 Corps Commander and General Akram as Chief of General Staff.

When General Mehmood and General Aziz got this news, they were playing golf. General Aziz called the Corps Commander Karachi General Usmani that what should be done now? General Osmani asked, was General Musharraf given any instructions while going to Colombo? After receiving an affirmative answer, General Usmani said, then follow his instructions.

After a while, General Usmani received a call from the new Army Chief to receive General Musharraf at the airport and bring him to the Army House (where the Army Chief stays during his stay in Karachi) with protocol. Soon after, another call came from the Prime Minister’s House.

Military Secretary Brigadier Javed was saying that there is no need to give protocol to General Musharraf, he should be brought to Army House and ‘bound’. After the assurance that General Usmani was with Musharraf, the action in Rawalpindi began and history took a new turn.

In October 12, 2020, there is nothing but the story of Yad Dagh Dagh Ujale and Shab Gazida Sahar of 12 October 1999. Life still goes on, time still flows and the country still moves. However, the night of October 12, 1999 has become a memory, the night that forced me to wear the veil on October 12, 1999 has also become a dream.