By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Retired General Abdul Waheed Kakar, the former army chief whose intervention in 1993 led to the resignation of both Pakistan’s president and its prime minister, has died in Rawalpindi at the age of 89, the military said on Monday.
The army’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), announced the death in a statement. He was 89. Neither a cause of death nor funeral arrangements had been announced.
Field Marshal Asim Munir, who is both Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces, and all ranks of the army expressed “deep sorrow”, the ISPR said. “The CDF and all ranks of the Pakistan Army pay tribute to the late general’s distinguished military career, leadership and invaluable services to the Pakistan Army,” the statement said. It added that the army “shares the grief of the bereaved family”.
Kakar led the army from January 1993 to January 1996. He took over after the sudden death of his predecessor, Gen Asif Nawaz, and was promoted over several more senior generals. He had been commanding the XII Corps in Quetta and was on the list of officers due to retire when he was chosen.
His defining moment came within months. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were locked in a bitter dispute over who held power. Kakar pressed both men to step down, which cleared the way for the 1993 elections that returned Benazir Bhutto to office. A caretaker government under Moeen Qureshi ran the country until the vote. The arrangement became known as the Kakar formula. Accounts of the period say he worked between the two camps and declined the advice of politicians who urged him to impose martial law. The army did not take power.
In September 1995, a group of army officers was said to have plotted to assassinate him and Bhutto and seize power. Major General Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi was named as the leader of the group.
Kakar retired at the end of his three-year term. He reportedly declined an extension. Gen Jahangir Karamat, the most senior officer at the time, succeeded him. Kakar rarely appeared in public afterwards and lived quietly in Rawalpindi.
Born in Peshawar in 1937, Kakar studied at Edwardes College before joining the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul. He later commanded the 16th Infantry Division in Quetta and served as Adjutant General at General Headquarters from 1987 to 1989.
President Asif Ali Zardari conveyed condolences to the family, his office said. “The president prays for the bereaved family to be granted the strength to bear this loss with patience,” the statement read. The president’s X account also asked for the general to be granted “a place in His mercy”.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid tribute to Kakar’s “invaluable services” to the armed forces, state broadcaster PTV reported. The Prime Minister’s Office said he extended “heartfelt condolences and sympathy” to the family. Sharif’s own first government was the one brought down in the 1993 crisis.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
