Wahid Kakar
Wahid Kakar was Chief of Army Staff,
Pakistan. President
Ghulam Ishaq Khan and
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came into public on the appointment of the Chief of Army staff after the sudden death of General
Asif Nawaz in January
1993. Nawaz Sharif wanted to place his own candidate in the vacant position, against the wishes of both the army and the President. Considering Sharif's intentions a direct threat to his political authority, President
Ghulam Ishaq Khan used his constitutional privilege effectively to place his candidate, General Abdul Wahid Kakar Commander XII corps in
Quetta, as commander-in-chief superseding many seniors.
Nawaz Sharif reportedly threatened "not to let the new COAS work". Within 24 hours of a statement by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that the appointment of the new COAS would take some time, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan had named General Abdul Waheed as the COAS on
January 11. What is more, Nawaz Sharif was told about the new appointment just a few minutes before the ceremony. It was the first public setback to the Prime Minister.
General Wahid Kakar is remembered for starting the Shaheen Nuclear Missile Project. It was Kakar who forced Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Nawaz Sharif to hand over their resignations at the height of the crisis in
1993.
In September
1995, General Abdul Waheed Kakar discovered a plot by a group of army officers headed by Major-General
Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi, acting in complicity with the HUJI an Extremist Group, to assassinate him and
Benazir Bhutto, the then prime minister, and capture power.This plan was foiled and those involved captured and arrested.General Abbasi was however released after a few years.
