A leaf from history: The significance of number eight
At 9 pm on Aug 17, 1988, the time for the main news bulletin on state-owned radio and television, then Senate Chairman Ghulam Ishaq Khan addressed the nation. This most important speech was preceded by the national anthem, and a recitation from the Holy Quran, as is the norm prior to all official appearances of the prime minister or the head of the state.
Ishaq Khan began by breaking the news of Zia’s death, confirming that there were no survivors, and that he as the Senate chairman had automatically taken over as acting president until an elected government took over, as per the Constitution of the country.
He said that Gen Aslam Baig, the vice chief of the army staff had been appointed chief of the army staff and would be performing duties according to the Constitution. The issue of appointments of other service chiefs had been deferred.
A national emergency followed Zia’s helicopter crash, amidst steps to restore democracy
Without getting into details he announced that since Gen Zia had announced elections would be held on Nov 16, polls would be held as scheduled, for which arrangements were being made by the election commission. For ensuring a peaceful atmosphere, an emergency had been declared throughout the country. He also said this announcement should bring an end to all rumours.
After the address, the civil and military administration began sorting things out at an emergency level.
Everybody had waited for the announcement, which came after a delay of over five hours; however, those with political knack were interested to know what had actually happened behind the scenes.
There was not much to tell. The delay was due to the arduous task of getting everyone together to make the decisions. At the time of the disaster, Gen Baig was still in Bahawalpur, but upon realising that nobody had survived, he had rushed back to the capital. On his arrival, he discussed the situation with Gen Jehangir Karamat, the director-general of operations at the time; and called in Gen Imranullah, corps commander of Rawalpindi; Gen Hamid Gul, director general of intelligence; and a few others at the GHQ.
There were only two plausible options: the army could take over and promulgate another martial law till elections were held, or follow the constitutional path and allow the Senate Chairman Ghulam Ishaq Khan to take over as president and run the affairs until elections were held.
Ghulam Ishaq Khan was summoned, but was made to wait in a separate room, where he sat wondering why he had been called at that hour, although he knew about the crash and the arising situation. After the three service chiefs decided to follow the constitutional path, they entered the room where Ghulam Ishaq was sitting. When he was told about the crash Ghulam Ishaq replied: “What do you gentlemen want me to do?” “Sir, we want you to take over the presidency,” said Gen Baig in a composed tone. “Oh bhai, agar aap logon nay das din kay baad takeover karna hai to abhi kar lo,” replied Ishaq Khan.
All three chiefs assured him that they had no intention of imposing martial law. At this assurance, Ishaq Khan asked for some time to think. After about three minutes, he called the three chiefs in and expressed his willingness. Meanwhile, Gen Rafaqat, Gen Zia’s former staff chief, had already made arrangements to send for the chief justice. Since the chief justice was out of the country, the acting chief justice arrived and Ghulam Ishaq Khan took the oath to assume the post of president of Pakistan. Thus a situation which may have pushed the country into another undemocratic system, for an unspecified period, was handled smoothly.
While the crash inquiry was underway, a number of theories circulated among the public. The majority were puzzled about whose conspiracy it might be. It was up to the government to establish trust among the people by conveying that the actions they took bore no any ill-will and was only taken for the restoration of democracy. Public apprehension and concern was not unjustified — they had been living on Gen Zia’s false promises for the past 11 years.
The administrative machinery on its part had begun efforts to compile evidence to find the cause of the tragedy, but it was a lengthy and difficult task. Reflecting on the crash, one could imagine the effort neccessary to achieve a flawless disaster.
Newspapers used their space to highlight the death, with definite fallout for Pakistan’s foreign policy; economic conditions that had been under pressure for the last eight years; hosting more than three million Afghan refugees; and facing repercussions of the war, in the form of drugs, illegal arms, and increasing lawlessness. But with the government’s declaration of moving towards the restoration of democracy, hoping for better was the only solace the public had. Questions like ‘what were the probable causes of the tragedy?’ or, in case of a sabotage, ‘who was the master planner?’, appeared in the national media — but no one was able to reach any reliable conclusions.
While political gatherings and the public continued to debate various aspects of the crash, star-gazers and fortune-tellers were keen to speculate about movements of the stars, to explain the disaster. Many recalled that in early August, Gen Zia had convened a mashaikh conference at Islamabad, as well as a khawateen conference on the same subject. On the sidelines, he had spoken about numerology, and in a light tone said that he believed in the ‘figure of eight’, and pointed out that the year 1988 was passing and that the month was also August (the eighth month of the year). He also said that people were making predictions about what might happen as a result of this numerical alignment. He did not believe in such things, but after his death, someone in his family remarked: “But why didn’t he think that in the number 17, one and seven added together to become eight — a reference to Aug 17, the day of the crash.”
Source: A leaf from history: The significance of number eight
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, April 17th, 2016