Ojhri Camp

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Ojhri Camp (Urdu: اوجھڑی کیمپ ) is located in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan. It was used as an ammunition depot for Afghan Mujahideen fighting against Soviet forces from Afghanistan. It exploded on April 10, 1988 killing thousands in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

General Zia, who had nominated Muhammad Khan Junejo as Prime Minister for his obvious weak political personality, found his protégé as an obstacle in his schemes. Gradually differences between Zia and Junejo emerged as the Prime Minister tried to assert his authority as head of an elected government over such issues as top military appointments and Afghanistan.

First, they clashed over Zia's refusal to sign the Geneva Accords that would pave the way for a withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. Junejo had organized a round table conference of opposition leaders to get his way.

Secondly, Junejo challenged the appointment of two generals and also demanded that General Zia should quit as the army chief of staff - a position he held since 1976.

The Ojhri camp disaster in which hundreds were killed as thousands of rockets had rained down over Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Junejo demanded punishment for the army generals responsible for the catastrophe while General Zia - who kept the portfolio of the Army Commander-in-Chief even after the lifting of martial law by extending his own term of office - could not afford to antagonize his constituency. The report blamed General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, Zia's most powerful ally and rumors were spread that the dump, which served as a store for US supplied arms for the Afghan "mujahedeen", had been blown up deliberately just before the arrival of a US defense audit team, to cover up the fact that some Stinger missiles had been sold off to other countries.

The Final showdown took place on May 29, 1988. President General Zia, under article 58(2B) of the amended constitution, dismissed Prime Minister Junejo's government and dissolved the national and provincial assemblies. In sacking Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo, who had just returned from Manila after a foreign tour, General Zia stressed the delay in furthering the process of Islamisation. General Zia made the following allegations against the Junejo government:

  • Law and order in the country had broken down to an alarming extent resulting in tragic loss of human lives.
  • Life, property, honor and security of the citizens was rendered totally unsafe.
  • The integrity and ideology of Pakistan have been seriously endangered and doubts generated in this regard.
  • The president's conscience always pricked that he had not fulfilled his promises regarding the enforcement of Islam made to the people in the referendum of 1984.
  • Public morality had deteriorated to an unprecedented level.
  • A situation had arisen in which the government of the federation cannot be carried on in accordance with provisions of the constitution necessitating an appeal to the election.


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