In the Line of Fire: Musharraf Memoirs

Events that unfolder before the coup in Pakistan. Infomation according to excerpts from Musharraf's Memoirs.
''It was October 12, 1999.The time was 1845 hrs, IST. The flight was PK 805. The plane was an Airbus. There were 198 passengers on board, many of them school children. We were due to land in 10 minutes,'' he writes. But then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had given explicit orders that the flight should not be allowed to land anywhere in Pakistan. “

'I told a crew member to ask Air Traffic Control again why they were not permitting us to land considering our precarious fuel situation. ‘

The reply, 'Climb to 21,000 feet and just get out of Pakistan and go anywhere.'

''Air Traffic Control suggested we head to Bombay, Oman, Abu Dhabi, or Bandar Abbas in Iran, just about anywhere except (for some reason) Dubai. They also informed our pilot that they had directed all airports not to let our plane land anywhere in Pakistan. No one below the Prime minister could give such a drastic order. Sacking an Army Chief is one thing, but hijacking his plane and sending it to India is diabolical.''

As the news of a political coup dawned on him, General Musharraf said his army rallied behind him. They were launching a counter coup. '' Major General Malik Iftikhar Ali Khan, the commander of an Army division in Karachi, made radio contact with the aircraft. 'Tell the chief to come back and land in Karachi,' he told the pilot. 'Everything is alright now.'''

''By 1945 hrs, IST, the counter coup had defeated Nawaz Sharif's coup throughout the country. My plane landed in Karachi by 1948 hrs, IST,''

''Back in corps headquarters in Karachi, we were somewhat dazed. We decided not to do anything precipitate. What was needed first and foremost was to reassure a bewildered nation, but without making any rash promises until we had understood what we got into.'' Said General Musharraf

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