Zia-ul-Haq's son blames former Army official for father's plane crash death

Lahore, Oct.15 (ANI): Former Pakistan President General Zia-ul-Haq's son, and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) leader Ejaz-ul-Haq, has alleged that a former top Pakistan Army official had plotted the plane crash in 1988 in which his father died.

In an interview with a private television channel, Haq said Major General (retired) Mahmud Durrani had called his father continuously and virtually forced him to attend the tanks' parade in Bahawalpur.

He highlighted that after the plane crash, the postmortem was done only of General Herbert Wassom, the then head of the US Military Aid Mission to Pakistan, in which it was revealed that he had died before the crash.

Durrani, however, has rejected the allegations, saying he had cordial relations with the US, but the notion that he was involved in the plane crash was false, The Daily Times reports.

Durrani is believed to be a staunch advocate of Indo-Pak friendship, and has always stressed the need of having 'excellent relations' with the United States.

It may noted that Zia died along with several of his top generals and the then United States Ambassador to Pakistan, General Herbert Wassom, in an aircraft crash near Bahawalpur (Punjab) on 17 August 1988. The circumstances of the crash still remain unclear. (ANI)