The assassination of Zia Ul Haq

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General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, died in a plane crash on August 17, 1988, about which several conspiracy theories exist.

On August 17, 1988, General Zia and five of his generals visited a test site to observe a demonstration of the M1 Abrams main battle tank, which the US was trying to persuade Pakistan to buy. He and his entourage flew to Bahawalpur, about 330 mi (530 km) south of Islamabad in the president's C-130 Hercules aircraft, then flew to the test site by helicopter. Afterwards, they returned to Bahawalpur for lunch, then boarded the C-130 for the return flight to Islamabad.

The aircraft departed Bahawalpur early, ahead of a storm. The president's C-130 had been fitted with an air-conditioned VIP capsule where Zia and his American guests were seated. It was walled off from the flight crew and a passenger and baggage section in the rear. The plane was packed with Pakistani army officers, including General Akhtar Abdur Rehman, chairman of the Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as American Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphel and General Herbert M. Wassom, the head of the US military aid mission to Pakistan.

Shortly after takeoff, the control tower lost contact with the aircraft. Witnesses cited in Pakistan's official investigation said that the C-130 began to pitch "in an up-and-down motion" while flying low shortly after take-off before going into a "near-vertical dive", exploding on impact, killing all on board.

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