August 17, 1988

On August 17, 1988, a C-130 Hercules plane crashed.

Along with President Gen. Ziaul Haq, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen. Akhtar Abdur Rehman, and US Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Lewis Raphel, several senior Pakistan Army commanders also perished in the C-130 Hercules plane crash on August 17, 1988, in Bahawalpur. However, Allah had other plans, thus a select few people were not on board the tragic aeroplane.

“According to a report in Dawn’s Aug. 23 edition”

both foreign and local specialists were perplexed as to how a technical problem could develop considering that 14 technicians had inspected the aircraft between the time it landed at and took off from Bahawalpur. Additionally, pieces of the debris were flown to the US for testing.

Mango crates, immortalized in Mohammed Hanif’s novel based on Gen Zia’s murder as the ultimate Trojan horse, were among the gifts given to the late president in Bahawalpur. The then-mayor of Bahawalpur and several other gift-givers were held in police custody for at least eight hours, according to Dawn.

Map showing the route.

“According to US State Department records”, Gen Beg alluded to Gen Zia’s killing as a “plot” in a speech to army officers on August 25. No conspiracy can ever be successful without the help of those from within, the speaker claimed, thus “there might be some of our own people participating in this horrific deed.”

However ,Mystery still surrounds.