Rawalpindi conspiracy
| The Rawalpindi Conspiracy | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Military coups in Pakistan | |||||||
 Liaquat Ali Khan | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Government of Pakistan |
 Fraction of the Army Communist Party of Pakistan | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Liaquat Ali Khan (Prime Minister of Pakistan) |
Akbar Khan (Chief of General Staff) Sajjad ZaheerFaiz Ahmad Faiz | ||||||
The Rawalpindi conspiracy was an attempted coup to overthrow Liaquat Ali Khan, the first prime minister of Pakistan, in March 1951. It was the first of many subsequent coup attempts against governments in the history of Pakistan. The coup was notably planned by military general Akbar Khan, poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz and writer Sajjad Zaheer along with 12 others.
Causes
According to writer Hasan Zaheer, there were three main causes of the Rawalpindi conspiracy. First, general discontent of Pakistani army officers with the performance of the
Participants
Eleven military officers and four civilians were involved in the conspiracy.
Exposure and trial
The conspiracy was foiled after the government was informed of the coup attempt by one of the confidantes of Akbar Khan. Government forces immediately arrested Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan and the other conspirators, including Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The army commander-in-chief, Gen.
After an 18-month trial conducted in secrecy, Maj. Gen. Khan and Faiz Ahmed Faiz were both convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Their defence lawyer was the notable Bengali Muslim politician Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.[3] When Suhrawardy became the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1957, he obtained a reprieve for most of the conspirators.[3]
Aftermath
Major General Akbar Khan rehabilitated in Pakistani political life, becoming an adviser to Pakistani politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Upon coming to power in 1971, Bhutto appointed Akbar Khan as the chief of national security.[3] Naseem Shahnawaz and Akbar Khan were divorced, and the former changed her name to Naseem Jahan (after her mother Jahanara Shahnawaz) and became a politician in her own right.[5] Faiz continued to publish many works of poetry, and was appointed to the National Council for Arts by the Bhutto government.
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-577892-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7656-1089-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-969-0-01371-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-577892-2.
- ISBN 978-1-107-19276-8.
Further reading
- Dryland, Estelle. "Faiz Ahmed Faiz and the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case." Journal of South Asian Literature 27.2 (1992): 175–185. Online