Mirza Aslam Beg

Mirza Aslam Beg (born 15 February 1928), also known as M. A. Beg, is a retired Pakistani four-star rank general who served as the third Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from 1988 until his retirement in 1991. His appointment as chief of army staff came when his predecessor, President General Zia-ul-Haq, died in an air crash on 17 August 1988.

Beg's tenure witnessed Benazir Bhutto being elected Prime Minister in November 1988, and the restoration of democracy and the civilian control of the military in the country. Beg financed the Islamic Democracy Alliance (IDA), the conservative and right-wing opposition alliance against left-wing PPP, and rigged the general elections in 1990 in favor of Nawaz Sharif. As a result, Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister in 1990, but fell out with Beg when the latter recommended support for Iraq during the Gulf War. Beg was denied an extension from President Ghulam Ishaq Khan soon after in 1991, and replaced by General Asif Nawaz as chief of army staff. Apart from his military career, Beg briefly tenured as professor of security studies at the National Defence University (NDU) and regularly writes columns in The Nation.

Post-retirement, Beg has been mired in controversies. In 2012, Ijaz-ul-Haq, the son of General Zia-ul-Haq accused Beg of being responsible for the airplane crash that killed President Zia.

In 1996, Asghar Khan filed a human rights petition alleging that former Pakistan Army Chief General Beg and Pakistani ISI Chief Asad Durrani, under President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, established an election cell to manipulate the 1990 Pakistani general election in favor of Nawaz Sharif by purchasing politicians' loyalties. Nearly 16 years later, Durrani finally admitted his role in a 2012 affidavit to the Supreme Court of Pakistan and stated that he had been ordered by Beg to disburse money to rivals of Benazir Bhutto's party. The ISI disbursed Rs140 million for this purpose using funds from the foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan, through Mehranbank CEO Younus Habib. In 2012, Habib stated that the money had been arranged at the behest of Ghulam Ishaq Khan and General Beg, in his affidavit to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Despite these revelations, no significant legal consequences have followed and Beg had continued to defy court orders.