Daily Times

President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, 64, was returning from Bahawalpur, almost 400 miles south of the capital city, Islamabad, where he’d been paying his respects to a recently deceased American nun. With him on the plane were the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Raphel, and the top American military adviser to the region, Gen. Herbert M. Wassom. Most of Zia’s top commanders were also killed.

Confirming that there was evidence that mango crates did carry explosives, Muhammad Ijazulhaq, former Pakistani minister and son of Ziaulhaq claimed that nerve gas was also pumped into the cabin to maim pilots. “Conspirators did not want to leave anything to chance. They used nerve gas, explosives and fired a projective also from outside, “he said.

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Ijazulhaq, 67, pointed needle of suspicion to Gen. Aslam Beg, who succeeded his father as army chief and Gen. Mahmud Ali Durrani, then commander of the Multan-based armored division, besides the sleuths of Israeli and Indian intelligence agencies. Assuming the presidency in 1978, Ziaulhaq continued heading the army, till his death.

On Aug. 17, 1988, Gen. Ziaulhaq, along with five of his generals and the U.S. Ambassador Arnold Lewis Raphel died, when the C-130 plane crashed near Bahawalpur, 330 miles south of Pakistani capital Islamabad. They had gone to the desert test site to watch a demonstration of the M-1/A battle tanks, which the U.S was pressing Pakistan to buy.

Ijazulhaq, who is writing a book unveiling the coverup and fledgling investigations into the killing of his father said before the explosion pilots had lost control, because of inhaling certain gas in the cockpit. “Bringing down a four-engine plane like C-130 is not an easy task. Conspirators were working at many layers,” he said.

He also revealed that an air force officer Akram Awan arrested three months before the crash for espionage charges had admitted having brought the nerve gas with the help of sleuths of the Israeli spy agency Mossad and India’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He said the Mossad agent was the U.S. passport holder.