1980 Pakistan coup attempt

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1980 Pakistan coup attempt - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1980 Pakistan coup attempt

Part of Military coups in Pakistan

Date

March 1980

Location

Pakistan

Result

Failed coup

Coup plotters arrested

Belligerents

Government of Pakistan

Fraction of the Army

Commanders and leaders

Zia ul Haq
(President of Pakistan)

Tajammul Hussain Malik

Naveed Tajammal

Malik Riaz

In 1980, Tajammul Hussain Malik organized a coup attempt against the military regime of Zia-ul-Haq, with many other senior army officers, including his son Naveed Tajammul.^[1]^[2] The plan was to assassinate Zia-ul-Haq during the Pakistan Day parade on 23 March 1980,^[1] however the plot was exposed and Malik, his son (Naveed Tajammal) and the other conspirators were arrested and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment.

History

In 1977, Zia ul Haq came to power via the coup against the elected government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and imposed martial law on the country. He established a semi-Islamist regime in the country. Tajammul Hussain Malik aimed to replace his fake "Islamist" regime with a fully theocratic one.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Plot

The plot was to assassinate Zia-ul-Haq and launch a coup to depose the government with an Islamic one. The attempted assassination and coup were planned for 23 March 1980, during the annual 23 March Pakistan Day Parade. The masterminds behind the coup were high-ranking military and intelligence officers, and were led by Major General Tajammal Hussain Malik; his son Captain Naveed; and his nephew Major Riaz, a former military intelligence officer.^[6]^[4]

Failure

The ISI became aware of this plot but decided against arresting the men outright because they did not know how deep the conspiracy went, and kept them under strict surveillance. As the date of the annual parade approached, the ISI was satisfied that it had identified the major players in the conspiracy and arrested the men along with some high-ranking military officers.^[4]^[7]^[5]

Arrest of coup plotters

Malik, his son (Naveed Tajammal) and the other conspirators were arrested and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment. Though offered chances of exile, even when the risk of being executed was high, General Malik and his son (Naveed Tajammal) never took the offer to be exiled and preferred their homeland.^[8] Malik was released from imprisonment in 1988 following the death of Zia-ul-Haq in a plane crash.^[9]^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b Tajammul Hussain Malik (1991). The Story Of My Struggle. Jang Publishers. pp. 220–280.
^ World Focus, Volume 2. H.S. Chhabra. 1981.
^ Strategic depth. 1996.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Men on horseback,a history of coups".
^ ^a ^b Political Conflict in Pakistan.
^ Tirmazi, S.A.I. (1995). Profiles of Intelligence. p. 238.
^ Christine Fair, C. (2014). Fighting to the End. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-989270-9.
^ The Military Factor in Pakistan. Ravi Shekhar Narain Singh Singh.
^ Syed Saleem Shahzad. "Purging Pakistan's jihadi legacy". Asia Times.

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