Pakistan Army grabs helm after pre-dawn swoop on politicians

Press, 6 July 1977, Page 8

Pakistan Army grabs helm after pre-dawn swoop on politicians

NZPA-Reuter Islamabad Pakistan’s military leaders deposed the Prime Minister (Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ) in a military coup early yesterday and detained the country’s Opposition leaders.

The capital, Islamabad, was calm yesterday morning after the pre-dawn coup.

There was no immediate word on the whereabouts of Mr Bhutto. He was believed to have been at his residence in Rawalpindi when the armed forces intervened.

The military action started at 2 a.m. local time (9 a.m. N.Z. time) and all the leaders of the Opposition Pakistan National Alliance were rounded up within 45 minutes, Opposition sources said.

They were roused from sleep at their homes and apparently taken to army headquarters in Rawalpindi, the sources said. Just two hours before the coup, Mr Bhutto had given a press conference at his residence, explaining to reporters why his talks on a fresh General Election had failed. Pakistan Radio referred to Mr Bhutto as “the former

Prime Minister” but there was no mention of President Fazal Elahi Chaudhry. Army headquarters refused to take any telephone calls and the military imposed a communications black-out on the country. A group of about a dozen soldiers stood guard outside the telex offices in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and no international calls were allowed to the outside world.

At Islamabad airport, two lorry loads of troops took up position but international and domestic flights were running normally. But these troop deployments were the only visible signs of the military takeover, which appeared to have been bloodless. Reports from Karachi said that the situation was also very calm there.

Unconfirmed reports said that the Finance Minister

(Mr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada) and the Religious Affairs Minister (Maulana Kausar Niazi) were detained along with the Prime Minister.

The Opposition leaders had been scheduled to meet again yesterday morning to discuss their position after the breakdown of their talks with Mr Bhutto.

The army’s Chief of Staff, (General Mohammed Zia-ul-Haque) was due to broadcast to the nation today, said Radio Pakistan in a bulletin. The broadcast is scheduled for 7 p.m. local time (2 a.m. N.Z. time). Diplomatic observers in New Delhi said that General Haq’s involvement appeared to confirm that the coup had been carried out by top army leaders. General Zia lives about half a mile from Mr Bhutto in Rawalpindi, which is just a few miles from Islamabad.