Betrayal By Lt Gen Gul Hassan
Maj Gen Mitha was Quartermaster General at GHQ when prematurely retired by the civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in December 1971. He was just over 48 years old. Lt General Gul Hasan added his name to a list of officers whose retirements were announced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in his first speech as president on December 20, 1971. This came as a surprise as Maj Gen Mitha had no hand in the Officer's Revolt at Gujranwala and the hooting down of General Abdul Hamid Khan (Chief of Staff) at a GHQ meeting.
According to Maj Gen Mitha, it was Gul Hasan who also saved then-Brigadier Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq from being sacked. Brigadier Zia was in Jordan. The year was 1971. Gen Yahya Khan received a signal from Maj Gen Nawazish, the head of the Pakistan military mission in Amman, asking that Zia be court martialled for disobeying GHQ orders by commanding a Jordanian armoured division against the Palestinians, as part of actions in which thousands were killed. That ignominious event is known as Operation Black September. It was Gul Hasan who interceded for Zia and Yahya Khan let Zia off the hook.
Read more about this topic: Aboobaker Osman Mitha
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