Operation Midnight Jackal, or simply known as Midnight Jackal, was a first of two major

political scandals In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt, unethic ...

that took place in the first term of Pakistani

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...

in 1988–89 that was a plot of ISI's Internal Wing to assist the

vote of no-confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

movement in the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

to pave the way for new elections in favor of conservative politicians.

Background

Following the death and state funeral of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of ...

was elected as the

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

after successfully campaigning in the nationwide general elections held in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

. As early as 1989, the army staff under General Aslam Beg, then– Chief of Army Staff, had been at odds on the policy matters relating the handling of the security situation in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, immediately after Prime Minister Bhutto removed Hamid Gul from the intelligence agency over his

failure Failure is the social concept of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and is usually viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. On ...

to sustain Pakistan's national interests in the country. According to the ISI's insider information, it was

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Ghulam Ishaq Khan (20 January 1915 – 27 October 2006), commonly known by his initials GIK, was a Pakistani bureaucrat, politician and statesman who served as the seventh President of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993. He previously served as Chairm ...

and Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg who wanted the administrative changes in the

civilian government Civil authority or civil government is the practical implementation of a state on behalf of its citizens, other than through military units (martial law), that enforces law and order and that is distinguished from religious authority (for exampl ...

to control the government in their favor. In September 1989, the Internal Wing of the ISI, allegedly working under the directions from Gen. Aslam Beg, attempted to mount an effort to bring the

movement in the

in order to remove

, which would force new nationwide elections in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. This covert

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

program actively ran under Brig. Imtiaz Ahmad, then

Additional Director General The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone. It was started on 1 February 1977 and forma ...

of the Internal Wing, who oversaw with Major Amir (the FIA agent on

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

Counterintelligence and exposure

Despite its covert nature and secrecy, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) under its director Masood Khan was able to track the program based on the benefitted secret information on the activities of the Internal Wing on political matters. Eventually, the Intelligence Bureau was able to tapped the telephones and further videotaping the conversation of Brig. Imtiaz Ahmad and Major Amir trying to financially influence and convince the two senior parliamentarians belonging on the platform of the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

(PPP). When the scandal exposed in the

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.IB through the

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These include News agency, news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, News broadcasting, news channels etc. History Some of the fir ...

, the major allegations were directed toward Gen. Aslam Beg, then- army chief, and also implicating

and S. R. Kallu, then- Director ISI. Efforts to authorize the

court martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

of the Gen. Beg failed due to lack of evidence as Gen. Beg denied his involvement but authorized the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

JAG Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG or JAG Corps) is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called judge advocates ...

to establish the court martial hearings of Brig. Imtiaz, who was dismissed from his one-star general rank in the Army. Military investigations and prosecution leveled charges and held Amir Khan responsible of this scandal, who later testified in his court hearings that the primary objective were to support

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...

as the establishment was said to have "liked" or preferred Sharif as a country's prime minister, and was a part of his political camp. As Amir Khan told his military lawyers that: "Nawaz Sharif was more acceptable to the akistanArmy than Benazir Bhutto, and the establishment was against every leader who had people's mandate behind them. They prefer weak leaders like Sharif, which the Army could control". Despite the fact the scandal was exposed, the conspiracies against Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto continued until another

political scandal In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, Political party, party officials and Lobbying, lobbyists can be accused of various ...

was reported in 1990.

References

{{Inter-Services Intelligence 1989 in Pakistan Benazir Bhutto Inter-Services Intelligence operations Pakistan military scandals Political history of Pakistan Political scandals in Pakistan

Background

Counterintelligence and exposure

See also

References