Ziauddin Butt

General Khawaja Ziauddin Abbasi , also known as Ziauddin Butt , is a retired four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army, who served as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), for few hours, until Chairman joint chiefs General Pervez Musharraf reasserted the command and control of the military despite his termination on 12 October 1999. But he later denied making any such statements.

Early life and education Ziauddin Butt was born in Lahore, Punjab in British India, and is of Kashmiri descent. His birth name is Khawaja Ziauddin Abbasi, but he is known as Ziauddin Butt.

Military career In the military, Ziauddin Butt was reportedly noted for his remarkable academic performance and education, first attended and graduated from the Punjab University with double BSc in honors in Physics and Mathematics before joining the army in 1964.

After his training at the PMA Kakul, Zia decided attend the Military College of Engineering in Risalpur where he gained BSc in Civil engineering with emphasis on construction, standing on the first place on exam markings and earned gold medal in the graduation ceremony.

In the military, his war performance served with the combat engineering formations during the conflict with India in 1965 and later in 1971. After the war, Zia was selected and sent to the United States where he attended the Defence Mapping School in the Fort Belvoir, Virginia, earning post-graduate diploma in Topography where he specialized as the topographer in 1974–76.

In 1993, Major-General Ziauddin was posted on the security details for the technicians working at the Khan Research Laboratories in Kahuta. In 1992, Maj-Gen Ziauddin was posted at the Army GHQ in Rawalpindi, becoming the DG of the Combat Development Directorate (CDD), which he remained until 1996.

On 25 February 1996, Maj-Gen Ziauddin was promoted to the three-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army, and appointed as field commander of the XXX Corps. In 1998, Lieutenant-General Ziauddin was posted as an Adjutant-General at the Army GHQ in Rawalpindi, which he served until 1998 when General Pervez Musharraf was appointed chief of army staff and Chairman joint chiefs at the Army GHQ in Rawalpindi.

Director ISI and army chief

In 1998, Lt-Gen. Butt had been one of the most senior army generals in the military when Lt-Gen. Ali Kuli Khan and Lt-Gen. Khalid Nawaz were superseded with the four-star appointments of the junior most Lt-Gen. Musharraf. He was subsequently assigned to direct the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, after replacing Lt-Gen Naseem Rana who was posted as Master-General Ordnance (MGO) at the Army GHQ. Under his command, the ISI is credited with major revamping and evolution of the agency and its operations. Eventually, he authorized the ISI's Covert Action Division teams to infiltrate in Afghanistan, which was successful, but he was unable to convince Mullah Omar to hand over Osama bin Laden to Americans. Both Sharif and Ziauddin were arrested by the coup-makers and taken to different locations. Ziauddin was kept in solitary confinement for two years, and was subject to three army investigations which aimed to find some element of wrongdoing on his part. Musharraf decided to use a 'scouts penalty' – a discretionary punishment not requiring a crime, to dismiss General Ziauddin from service.

Kamran Khan of The News wrote disparagingly about Ziauddin in a news column called "the news/national intelligence unit (NIU)". General Rashid Quraishi was quoted as saying "General Ziauddin was one of the best generals in our army's history, so now we have to change the history". Author Shuja Nawaz (brother of former Pakistan army chief Asif Nawaz) wrote in his book that Musharraf created a false impression that Ziauddin and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had family connections.

Post-retirement Ziauddin Butt, as a retired general, told Carlotta Gall, the correspondent for The New York Times, that he thought Musharraf had arranged to hide Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad.

He is currently serving as the elected chairman of the LGH Post Graduate Medical Institute.