Sabotage in plane blow-up

A disaster that killed the country’s president and chief of army staff, and other military top brass, the plane crash on Aug 17, 1988, could easily have created chaos in the country, dragging it into the worst political crisis. Some even feared that a bitter civil war could have ensued involving many political groups which had militant wings. Everybody appeared keen to fill the political vacuum caused by the utter confusion. In such a situation, the role of services chiefs was integral. Making an intelligent move, they dropped the option of promulgating martial law. Instead, they declared a state of emergency to contain any possible unrest. For the first time in the chequered history of Pakistan, sanity prevailed. While administrative arrangements were being made by the civil set up, relevant institutions began their inquiries into the causes of the crash.

Gen Zia’s remarks, made a few days before the crash about the existence of a conspiracy, were already doing the rounds, as were many theories such as the Delhi-Moscow axis, the Delhi-Tel Aviv alignment and the RAW plan which were being discussed at all levels. The acting president had already declared that the elections would be held according to the schedule announced by Gen Zia. This prompted all political parties to prepare for the ballot which was considered the most important opportunity towards the restoration of democracy that had been forfeited for almost half the country’s existence as an independent state.

On Sept 10, 1988, the acting president appointed a committee headed by the secretary of frontier territories, Fateh Khan Bandial, to hold an inquiry into the crash and present the report to him. For two years, the body reached no conclusion, nor did it mention any cause of the inordinate delay. During this period, no government official was ever asked about the possible causes of the crash. Later, there were a number of news reports in the press about the inquiry but nothing came out and finally the federal minister for defence, Mohammad Sarwar Cheema, told the newsmen that this chapter was closed.

Investigations post plane crash suggest sabotage but leave a number of questions unanswered
Acting independently, the Pakistan Air force appointed its own board for conducting an investigation into the technical causes of the C-130 crash. The PAF board, headed by Air Commodore Abbas Mirza with Air Commodore Muzamil Saeed, Group Captain Zaheer Zaidi, Wing Commander Sabahat Ali Mufti, along with six air force technicians from the US, was given the task of inquiring into the circumstances under which the crash took place, apportionment of the responsibility and to make recommendations to avoid a recurrence.

The board interviewed a large number of people, visited the crash site, examined the wreckage and sought expert advice from Lockheed Company, the makers of the plane. It also sought expert advice from professionals in the field of forensic medicine, flame patterns, aircraft structures and explosives. After conducting the inquiry into all aspects of the crash, the board presented 26 findings, spread over 350 pages. The report also made some recommendations; but this was a secret document meant for official use.

As one of the probable causes, the board examined the possible malfunction of the hydraulics of the elevator boost package, which was then sent to the US for a thorough analysis. The report in response said that high levels of contamination by non-organic matter consisting of aluminium and brass were found, either due to maintenance or failure of the pump. After investigating, the board found the contamination due to excessive wear but it was not marked as the cause of the disaster.

After extensively examining all evidence, the board said: “In the absence of technical reasons to explain the causes of the mishap, the board believes that the accident was most probably caused through the perpetuation of a criminal act or sabotage.” It concluded with the opinion that “… a low intensity detonation inside the cockpit could have caused the bursting of some innocuous container, apparently filled with air fresheners or soft drinks but, in fact, containing some poisonous gas which incapacitated the passengers and instantly paralysed the highly experienced cockpit crew members of Pak One, not giving them a chance to even give the signal. … some parts of the aircraft’s wreckage were found to be contaminated with strong traces of antimony, potassium, sulphur, phosphorus and, most significantly, pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), an explosive commonly used in sabotage operations.”

“For inexplicable reasons, the inquiry report was leaked to the American press before it was released by the government of Pakistan,” said Gen Khalid Mahmud Arif, as an American team of experts was associated with the board of inquiry and the US was aware of its findings all along.

This created confusion among the people who understood the importance of the inquiry, while news items and commentaries in the domestic and international press added to the bewilderment, somewhat hampering the probe in finding the actual cause of the crash. The report indicated that it was not an accident as the “the use of ultra-sophisticated techniques would necessitate the involvement of a specialist organisation, well-versed with carrying out such tasks and possessing all the means and abilities for its execution.”

The findings of the board, no doubt, made a pertinent point that the crash was sabotage activity but could not ascertain the kind of sabotage that destroyed the plane. However, in an annexure titled “recommendations” the board made nine recommendations for further inquiry; which included an investigation to determine the perpetrators of the criminal act or sabotage, and that “either digital flight data recorders (FDRs) or simple flight recorders (FDRs) be provided for VIP aircraft”.

Although the charred bodies of all 31 victims were recovered from the wreckage, there were speculations about no autopsies having been conducted that might have provided some clues. Another point some experts raised was that in the case of the deaths of American citizens, an FBI inquiry should also have been conducted.

Source: Sabotage in plane blow-up
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine May 1st, 2016