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On March 2, 1981, as political parties began pressing Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) General Ziaul Haq to restore democracy, an aircraft of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flying from Karachi to Peshawar, and carrying 148 passengers and crew, was hijacked by three gun-wielding men and forced to land at Kabul airport.
The hijacker leading the team called himself Salamullah, aka Tipu. These men described themselves as activists of the Al-Zulfikar Organisation (AZO).
The AZO was originally formed as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), an underground organisation that aimed at exerting pressure on Pakistan’s military leadership to release deposed Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto unharmed. The organisation, it was rumoured, was constituted and led by Mir Murtaza Bhutto, the eldest son of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, while living in Europe. The AZO began its activities in Tripoli (Libya) and Kabul (Afghanistan), where some diehard youth coordinated various activities.
All else having failed, could militancy threaten the Zia regime?
Mir Murtaza’s younger brother, Shahnawaz Bhutto, soon joined him too. Later, the group was renamed the Al-Zulfikar Organisation, and aimed at destabilising Gen Zia’s government. It was reported that Mir Murtaza would be travelling and meeting world leaders in an attempt to get them to exert pressure on the Pakistan government to release Bhutto.
But before the AZO could exert pressure, Gen Zia rejected all appeals for clemency that were made by world leaders. In the aftermath of Bhutto’s hanging, AZO activities increased, and Pakistani police and other agencies began encountering them.
However, the Kabul hijacking case made waves for more reasons than one.
The hijackers demanded that the Pakistani government release their friends languishing in various jails across the country. On March 6, they shot dead a passenger, Major Tariq Rahim, who was an official at the Pakistan Embassy in Tehran. His corpse was subsequently thrown on the tarmac.
On March 7, a delegation led by the secretary of the Pakistan defence ministry proceeded to Kabul to hold direct talks with the hijackers, but Afghan officials did not allow them to do so.
While attempts were underway to get the plane and the passengers released, the hijackers did not budge from their standpoint. Previously, they had demanded the release of some persons arrested in the murder of a student in Karachi University. Now, they began demanding the release of 91 prisoners.
Seeing no solution in sight, they flew the plane to Damascus, where they enjoyed the support of the Syrian government. In fact, Mir Murtaza spent most of his time in exile in Damascus and also married a Syrian woman.
In Damascus, the AZO reduced their demand of releasing 91 prisoners to 54. The Syrian government informed Pakistan that the hijackers were not prepared to yield. Since there was no political outlet to mediate, Gen Zia’s men spoke without success.
Seeing no other way out, Gen Zia discussed the issue with his cabinet and finally decided on March 15 to swap prisoners. Pakistan therefore released 54 prisoners and flew them to Syria, where they were exchanged with passengers and the plane. The released passengers, the government claimed, were workers of the PPP and were serving various sentences for violent crimes.
The PPP continued to deny the existence of the AZO and any association with Mir Murtaza Bhutto. In fact, even after the PPP assumed reigns of the country in 1988, the party denied having any contact with the AZO.
During this episode, some incidents of violence also occurred that were attributed to the AZO. The PPP continued to deny the existence of the AZO and any association with Mir Murtaza Bhutto. In fact, even after the PPP assumed reigns of the country in 1988, the party denied having any contact with the AZO.
Lt-Gen Khalid Mahmud Mahmood Arif, in his book Working with Zia, mentions a handwritten letter, presumably penned by Benazir Bhutto to her brother Mir Murtaza before Bhutto’s hanging, that directed Mir Murtaza to seek outside support. Dated March 26, 1978, copies of the letter were found from Bhutto’s Larkana residence, Al-Murtaza.
To uphold his argument, Gen Arif refers to one paragraph of the letter: “Don’t tell the other children, but the Supreme Court will most probably rubber stamp Moulavi Mushtaq’s judgment and will try to carry it out immediately so as to make the foreign pressure impossible (let our foreign friends know this). Therefore, all our efforts have to be made now … time is of essence.”
The same letter contains another guideline for Mir Murtaza: “It would be productive if you go to America, and through the Kennedys, Galbraith, Kissinger, Nelson Rockefeller, George Bush (and) Devek Rock, get something done … Galbraith and Kennedy can put you in contact with the ‘reasonable’ senators.”
Among other things, Benazir also allegedly advised her brother to be “very careful.”
“Please do not take Khar to America. He must not know your contacts,” Benazir instructed Mir Murtaza.
The PIA hijacking and AZO issue had coincided with other activities in the country. In January 1981, various political parties had begun exchanging views on forming an alliance to launch a movement for the restoration of democracy, because by that time, Gen Zia did not seem serious in holding polls and handing over power to an elected parliament.
It was due to this dynamic that the General postponed elections twice after July 5, 1977. But while political parties consulted each other, a number of PPP activists were arrested on Feb 21. The party demanded their release, but after the regime’s refusal to do so, it announced a countrywide protest on March 23.
Many in Gen Zia’s circle advised him to pay heed to the demand but he thought it best to ignore it. To justify his opposition to the political system, he told his advisers that elections, being a means to an end, should return ‘positive results.’
In other words, Gen Zia meant that he did not want to see the PPP back in power ever again.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, May 10th, 2015
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