General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

Khawaja Ziauddin Abbasi ( ur, خواجہ ضیاء الدین عباسى), also known as Ziauddin Butt ( ur, ضیاء الدین بٹ), is a retired four-star rank

army general Army general is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System.　 In countries that adopt the general officer four rank system, it is rank of general commanding an army in the field, but in coun ...

Chaudhry, Aminullah (2009) Hijacking from the Ground: The Bizarre Story of Pk 805. Authorhouse. Pg 167 in the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the Partition of British India, which occurred as a result ...

, who served as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), for few hours, until Chairman joint chiefs General

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

reasserted the command and control of the military despite his termination on 12 October 1999. His appointment as the chief of army staff is distinguishable since he was the first

army engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics b ...

and the first Director ISI who was appointed to four-star command appointment. His career in the military spent as an

engineering officer An engineering officer can be a Merchant Navy engineer or a commissioned officer with responsibility for military engineering, typically used in the British Armed Forces. In the Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's nava ...

Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers "The Moving Spirit" , colors = , colors_label = Colours , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = , ...

before becoming the

spymaster A spymaster is the person that leads a spy ring, or a secret service (such as an intelligence agency). Historical spymasters See also *List of American spies This is a list of spies who engaged in direct espionage. It includes Americans s ...

in the

ISI ISI or Isi may refer to: Organizations * Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a classical conservative organization focusing on college students * Ice Skating Institute, a trade association for ice rinks * Indian Standards Institute, former name of ...

on 7 October 1998. After the military's war performance in

Kargil Kargil ( lbj, ) is a city and a joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It is also the headquarters of the Kargil district. It is the second-largest city in Ladakh after Leh. Kargil is located to the east of Srinagar in J ...

against the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

forcefully terminated the commission of then- Chairman joint chiefs and then- army chief General

by elevating General Ziauddin as an army chief on 12 October 1999. This order of promotion was then refused by General Musharraf's

military staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a D ...

as General Musharraf immediately led the military takeover of the civilian government while dismissing General Zia from his appointment and commission. Subjected to nearly two-year military investigations which found no part of his involved in

Prime Minister Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Paki ...

's decision, Zia was retired from his

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require ...

"scouts penalty" in 2001. In 2011, Ziauddin revealed to the

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and ...

that, according to his knowledge, it was

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. ...

Ijaz Shah Ijaz Ahmed Shah is a Pakistani politician, former officer of the Pakistan Army, and a former Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer.DG of Intelligence Bureau from 2004 to 2008, who had provided the support and hideout to

Osama Bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...

in a IB's safe house in

Abbottabad Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and fourt ...

. But later denied making any such statement.

Biography

Career in the military

Ziauddin Butt was born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, and is of Kashmiri descent. His birth name is Khawaja Ziauddin Abbasi, but he is known as Ziauddin Butt. He was educated in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan ...

before being accepted at the

Pakistan Military Academy Pakistan Military Academy ( ur, ), also referred to by its acronym PMA. PMA is an officers training school located near Kakul village in the city and district of Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa established in 1947. It is the sole service academy ...

in Kakul, prior joining the

. His father, Aftabuddin Butt, was a graduate of the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

in 1943 and was an officer of the

9th Bhopal Infantry The 9th Bhopal Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army.It was raised by Nawab of Bhopal in 1818 near Sehore. It was re-raised in 1859, as the Bhopal Levy. The regiment was disbanned for participating in war against British ...

, and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1964. His uncle, Ghulam Jilani Khan, was a three-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army who played a crucial role in stabilizing the Zia administration in 1980s and later in creating Pakistan Muslim League faction headed by

(later known as

PML-N The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a centre-right and liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Part ...

). In the military, Ziauddin butt was reportedly noted for his remarkable academic performance and education, first attended and graduated from the Punjab University with

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

BSc in honors in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

and

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

before joining the army in 1964. After his training at the PMA Kakul, Zia decided attend the Military College of Engineering in Risalpur where he gained BSc in

Civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

with emphasis on

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

, standing on the first place on exam markings and earned

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

in the graduation ceremony. Lt. Ziauddin was then commissioned in the Corps of Engineers, where his career in the army is mostly spent. In the military, his war performance served with the

combat engineering A combat engineer (also called pioneer or sapper) is a type of soldier who performs military engineering tasks in support of land forces combat operations. Combat engineers perform a variety of military engineering, tunnel and mine warfare tas ...

formations during the conflict with India in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

and later in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

.ISPR PR1998-Appointment of DGISI After the war, Zia was selected and sent to the United States where he attended the Defence Mapping School in the

Fort Belvoir Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It was developed on the site of the former Belvoir plantation, seat of the prominent Fairfax family for whom Fai ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

, earning post-graduate diploma in

Topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

where he specialized as the

topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

in 1974–76. In addition, he also attended the National Defence University (NDU) where he gained his BSc in

War studies War studies, sometimes called polemology, is the multi-disciplinary study of war. It pertains to the military, diplomatic, philosophical, social, political, psychological or economic dimensions of human conflict. The word ''polemology'' deriv ...

and later attained his MSc in Strategic studies, before rotating back to the Corps of Engineers. In 1989–90,

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Ziauddin briefly served as the GOC of the 11th Infantry Division stationed in Okara before his assignment posted in the JS HQ in

. In 1990–92,

Ziauddin was appointed as the first

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

of the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) headquartered in the JS HQ in

, that an agency that oversaw the protection of the country's nuclear arsenals. In 1993,

Ziauddin was posted on the security details for the technicians working at the Khan Research Laboratories in Kahuta. In 1992, Maj-Gen Ziauddin was posted at the Army GHQ in

, becoming the DG of the Combat Development Directorate (CDD), which he remained until 1996. On 25 February 1996, Maj-Gen Ziauddin was promoted to the three-star rank

in the

, and appointed as field commander of the XXX Corps. In 1998,

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Ziauddin was posted as an

Adjutant-General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

at the Army GHQ in

, which he served until 1998 when General

was appointed chief of army staff and Chairman joint chiefs at the Army GHQ in

Director ISI and army chief

In 1998, Lt-Gen. Butt had been one of the most senior army generals in the military when Lt-Gen. Ali Kuli Khan and Lt-Gen. Khalid Nawaz were superseded with the four-star appointments of the junior most Lt-Gen. Musharraf.B. Raman
"A Revamp of Pakistani Intelligence Community is underway"
''SAPRA India'', 18 December 1998 He was subsequently assigned to direct the

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...

(ISI) by Prime Minister

, after replacing Lt-Gen Naseem Rana who was posted as Master-General Ordnance (MGO) at the Army GHQ. Under his command, the

is credited with major revamping and evolution of the agency and its operations. On 7 October 1998, Lt-Gen. Butt departed to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

to meet with

Mullah Omar Mullah Muhammad Omar (; –April 2013) was an Afghan Islamic revolutionary who founded the Taliban and served as the supreme leader of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Born into a religious family of Kandahar, Omar was educated at local ''madras ...

, Emir of Afghanistan at that time, demanded to hand over the 12 most wanted members of fanatic

Sipah-e-Sahaba Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, , Guardians of the Prophet's Companions), renamed to Millat-e-Islamia, is a Islamist organisation in Pakistan, which also functioned as a political party. It broke away from the main Deobandi Sunni organisation ...

but Mullah Omar refused. Eventually, he authorized the ISI's Covert Action Division teams to infiltrate in Afghanistan, which was successful, but he was unable to convince Mullah Omar to hand over

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

. He was also one of the senior-most generals ever to occupy the post of Intelligence Chief (DG ISI) and is credited with major revamping and evolution of the agency and its operations. He is currently serving as the elected chairman of the LGH Post Graduate Medical Institute. Despite in commanding position, General Zia did not issue orders to resist such moves in a fear of dangerous in-fighting among the army institution. Both Sharif and Ziauddin were arrested by the coup-makers and taken to different locations. Ziauddin was kept in solitary confinement for two years, and was subject to three army investigations which aimed to find some element of wrongdoing on his part. Musharraf decided to use a 'scouts penalty' – a discretionary punishment not requiring a crime, to dismiss General Ziauddin from service. Kamran Khan of ''The News'' wrote disparagingly about Ziauddin in a news column called "the news/national intelligence unit (NIU)". General Rashid Quraishi was quoted as saying "General Ziauddin was one of the best generals in our army's history, so now we have to change the history". Author Shuja Nawaz (brother of former Pakistan army chief Asif Nawaz) wrote in his book that Musharraf created a false impression that Ziauddin and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had family connections. Ziauddin Butt, as a retired general, told Carlotta Gall, the correspondent for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', that he thought Musharraf had arranged to hide Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad.

Biography

Career in the military

Director ISI and army chief

References

See also