1975: It started in February, with the killing of Maroof Sa'ad, an ex MP, which caused great tension in Saida, Beirut and Tripoli. Next incident was the Kateib's killing spree on 13 April '75 of 21 Palestinians passengers of a bus passing in front of a church in Ainer Rommaneh. This touched off a wave of violence.
Government machinery was paralysed. The violence spread in Beirut, but specially between Muslim area Shiyyah and Ein er Roummaneh. The 'Progressive Forces' Tripoli, that is Muslims pro-Rashid Karameh forces, retaliated to this cold-blooded murder.
In Beirut it resulted in intensive exchange of fire between (Christian) Ashrafieh and Shiyyah. Prime Minister Rashid el Solh resigned and Rashid Karameh took over from him. Lebanese Front - Christian militias - acted against disorganised 'Lebanese Nationalist Movement' that is the leftist Muslims. On 29th June in Beirut started free use of mortars, RPGs, missiles, light artillery.
The fighting spread to (Shia) Bika'a and to Damour (Camille Chamoun's strong hold), then in late August in Zahle, and Tripoli and Akkar. Tripoli resorted to erecting sand bag barriers on city's major roads, affecting Christian Mountains links with Beirut. Damour was a Chamoun enclave of power in the midst of Muslim areas on the road to Saida and the South, which had considerable importance for the Palestinians.
Then started Lebanese Front vs leftist Palestinians, PFLP, confrontation. I will confine to mentioning only those incidents of Civil War, which affected the Pakistanis in Beirut. At the start of the Civil War, Beirut was an open city with Muslim or Christian majority areas. The incidents of firing and shooting would start in the night in the heart of the city, near the Memorial of the Martyrs of Freedom, where the Turks had executed Christian and Muslims Lebanese rebels against them.
The main market and adjacent areas and exchange of missiles and mortar fire would continue till the evening. Tens of major shops were set on fire in Sarsok Market - a major shopping area, and Tabbara. In initial attacks, the Christians had an upper hand; they over ran Karentina, Maslakh and advanced towards the center of the city - and surrounded many Muslim areas. In the sought of Beirut in Shiyyah missiles, artillery, mortars were used our areas were sort of in the middle of the firing from North, South and East. President Franjieh, Prime Minister Rashid Karameh, Chamoun and some other leaders held a meeting to contain the fighting. Every day a number of people were being killed in the fighting or by shelling. Attempt was made to quell the fighting through the Security Forces but 12 soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded in a small operation. Every day a number of persons were being killed in these exchanges of fires. At this stage the Lebanese Army was "fictionalised" - that is Muslims having sympathy for the Muslim armed men and Christians for the Kataiab etc. The two highest-ranking Muslims in the forces were Major General Aziz Ahdab and Brigadier General Yusuf Harike (Heading the Security Forces), the later refused to obey the President's orders to open artillery fire on the Shia area and surround it with tanks. He said either both Christian and Shia areas would receive this treatment or none.
Thereafter, Beirut experienced what is described as the period of great fires destruction of buildings, by burning them with flame throwers, bombing started from the center of the commercial area down town. Thereafter, started the battle for the main hotels and principal roads, which were used as the base for the battle for the hotels - Saint George, Holiday Inn, Hilton, Phoenicia and principal roads as the base of Kataib armed persons. The city was booming with the exchange of mortars fires and use of RPGs Armed groups began attacks with RPGs and mortars, for controls of Beirut Port, center of the city. After tough resistance, the Muslim armed group succeeded to dislodge the Kataibs. One of the Muslims who participated in the battle told me that when they captured the place they found some Israeli cigarettes and coins, which was counted as the first evidence that the Israelis were there with the Kataib militia men. The Air Port was attacked and an engagement took place between the Security Forces and the attackers.
In Shiyah, the Shia group Amal put up a resistance to the Kataib forces. Franjieh and Army Chief Iskander Ghanem threatened to use heavy weapons. While I am using the terms Christian militias and Kataib on one side and Muslim militias on the other, the two used different nomenclatures.
The Christians called their side as "Lebanese Forces" and the Muslims as 'Nationalist Forces' or 'Progressive Forces. Clashes spread to Muslim dominated areas Ain el Mareise where the American embassy and American University of Beirut (AUB) were situated and quite a few Pakistanis lived in this area and Basta, the Muslim strong hold, in the heart of the city.
Use of automatic weapons, machine guns and small artillery became a normal feature of these clashes. Muslim and Christian areas were divided by sand bag barriers where young armed men would check the traffic. They would freely roam round the streets.
Thereafter, fighting erupted in the commercial center of Beirut, which was the hub of Beirut's banking and commercial center or its heart. Buildings after buildings were put on fire in Bab Idris, Burg, Riyad el Solh square, port. The shopping area of central Beirut was burnt down.
It looked like a haunted place. The shopping areas in the center of city was ransacked. It was remarkable how the owners of shops, big and small, set up temporary shops in the open on pavements and as soon as bombardment started on our areas, they would pack up their merchandise and get away from there in their cars. They were never blaming their luck, or lamenting their losses.
In the beginning it seemed that except for a small pocket in Ras Beirut, Basta and its back upto Shiyyah was under Muslim control, but almost all other parts of Beirut were under Kataib and Christian militias.
Palestinian Refugee Camp at Tel el Zaiter - mostly inhabited by Christian. Palestinians was over ran by the Kataib and near it the Christian-Muslim locality Sin el Fil through which my daughter used to go to her Brummana School were the scene of the heaviest artillery exchange of fire and pitched battles. As the Civil War intensified, the Palestinians intervened and pushed back the Christian militias and virtually controlled all the Muslim and druze areas.
Use of long range artillery (220 mm) SAM missiles, RPGs became frequent. But this mini war continued in Beirut style, that is ferocious battles for a few days, sometime for the whole day and night, and some times after the dark, and at times guns fell silent followed by attacks by the two sides to dislodge the other from strategically vital places like Port, Air Port, main roads around the center of the city. Sometimes gunmen entered houses to rob the residents. Unsafe of one area came to seek shelter in the other.
I gave permission to our Palestinian translator, a Christian, Jabbour, to keep his family in a room in the chancery. Although a Christian he was unsafe in Christian area being a Palestinian.
Till then technically police and army were still in their posts and barracks yet they were seen only at very few places. Right in the areas which were considered safe the armed men of either faction will infiltrate into other's side and start indiscriminate firing with Kalashnikovs on the streets and roads. It crept up to Alhamra and Rouche. Attempt was made to burn the Parliament building. Alhamra was the best shopping center in Beirut; it was a mixed area with Muslim majority.
The State Bank was located on Al-Hamra where the Gold Reserves were kept Catholic University in Al-Hamra was closed. Rouche was the heart of the Residential area. This was where our embassy and my residence was situated. At that time, the Shia armed men, unofficial militia of Imam Musa Sadr, were controlling South and Marnoite gunmen were exchanging fire with them all over south and with West Beirut Sunni and Shia areas. Armed Forces refrained form intervening in the factional fighting's.
Two of our Greek Orthodox friends sought refuge in our residence from an apartment building which was on the dividing line between the two 'factions'. A few days later there was intense firing right in front of our building on the shore and around.
They had brought their brief case in which they said was their jewellery and foreign currency. When this situation continued for a few days they left from Damascus leaving the brief case in my custody. I told them that I cannot take responsibility for whatever they were leaving with me as my building could also be attacked but they insisted that I keep their brief case with me.
Several months later in 1977 they asked us to deliver the brief case in Damascus to Madame Khori, wife of a former President of Syria. Later they confirmed from Paris on telephone that the bag with its contents had been received and every thing in it was in tact.
The intensity of the 'war' spread to Burj, Bab Idris and Riyad el-Solh Square. Buildings owned by the other community were burnt among them was the building in which the Habib Bank was located. From inside the building the night guard telephoned me to say that armed people are collecting outside, firing was going on, then he telephoned to say that armed people have entered the building and putting the building to fire.
He had been thrown out of the building (he was a Muslim and the armed gang was Muslim) and that he was running away to save his life. I could see from the balcony of my flat flames leaping from the direction of Bab Idris, burning of the building, hear the firing of RPGs and small artillery shelling.
Early in the morning Mahboob Ali Khan, the Manager of the Habib Bank, telephoned me asking me to arrange for him to be taken to the bank. Also he was keen to find out if the "Safe Room" of the bank, which was fire proof had also been burnt.
It contained the duplicate copies of the accounts of the bank and cash. His greatest worry was to retrieve record of the accounts of the bank. It was impossible to go there but by that time a Muslim militia had taken control of the area. I telephoned my friend Brigadier General Yusuf Harike, a highly popular officer. Respect for him among the Muslims was universal. Harike was a very handsome man, smiling face, and a dare devil. From his broad face and style of walking he looked like a lion.
His honesty was proverbial. He immediately responded to my call saying that he will be at the embassy soon with a tank. He will pick up and the manager to take us to the bank's building. Passing through the armed militia barricades, crossing charred buildings and shops we reached the building which was burnt with flame thrower.
The lift of the building was also burnt. The stair case was quite fire eaten. With great difficulty we made it to the upper floor where the Safe Room of located. It was not burnt. With great difficulty the door of the bank was Opened and Mahbub Ali Khan return in the tank with the record, money and papers, which were in that Safe Room they were in tact.
Habib Bank had a branch near Alhamra, which also came under attempt for arson. But it was not much damaged. I learnt that Habib is a prominent Christian family and the Muslim militants made the bank their target thinking that it was owned by that family.
In the first stages of the Civil war we used to keep the morale of the Pakistanis by visiting them. Whenever an area where Pakistanis were living came under fire, as soon as the shelling subsided, I and my wife used to visit the Pakistanis, with Pakistani flag flying.
I use the flag like some use a talisman to ensure my safety, luckily I did not meet any mishap even in the night when the roads were deserted and none except armed men of the unofficial militias were on the roads manning the barriers and sensitive spots of the localities. In fact we felt the thrill of an adventure. We were not daunted by the risks on the deserted roads. I used to drive the car on these occasions. Cars of some diplomats were stolen or snatched.
Once our embassy staff car driver, Saeed was stopped on a sand bag barrier and militias detained him and his car. He was a pacca Beiruti Muslim; yet his detention happened in the Muslim area. After a few hours he was interrogated by the militia commander.
He identified himself as Pakistan ambassador's driver. They released him immediately and sent me their salams. He came to me to narrate his ordeal. I asked him that when he passed by that barrier again he should say I have conveyed my thanks to them for releasing Saeed.
Next few months Government machinery was paralysed. Sometimes the institutions would work sometimes not. Banks would close for month or two and them open. When such civil wars prolong, militias normally break into small bands, and not infrequently into gangs. As the civil war intensified, car snatching become a normal features.
Even some Arab embassies cars were snatched and stolen. Movement on the road to the air port was risky both as in that area the Palestinians and the Lebanese Army were firing at each other. One could be stopped and his car taken away from him. Sometime, one would find after coming out to the parking lot where he left it some gun men occupying it.
This is my car please. Yes it was. Not now, would be the reply. This would happen at the airport mostly. As the roads leading to the Air Port became battle ground, one side shooting on the other across the road, and regularity of flights became uncertain, the next problem for me was to keep the embassy running. Diplomatic bag could not be received through the Air Port, for days the post and telegraph offices down town were closed' there was no security for any communication.
I therefore asked the Ministry to send the bags by PIA to Damascus and I sent one Pakistani embassy official in turns to Damascus through Muslim areas to bring it from there. Government permitted Pak nationals to send their letters to Pakistan through the diplomatic bag, with our certificate that it had been examined and it did not contain any prohibited item.
Evacuation of 1975
Even before the Civil War started in 1975, I had visualised vaguely that it was coming. Pakistani ambassadors were required to send an "Annual Assessment" of their country of accreditation, predicting the direction of main trends of the policies in the last year and projecting what was likely to happen, and suggesting an action plan for the next year.
After describing the growing cracks between the Christians and Muslims in the country, I had predicted in 1974 Assessment that "I am afraid the coming year would be very hard for Lebanon."
In fact in one of my reports I attached a graph showing what would be the likely course of civil war in 1976. If these documents are ever made public it would show how accurate were my predictions. In the deteriorating situation my most important concerns were the safety of the Pakistani and to protect Pakistani banks, PIA their buildings and Pakistani community's personal property.
When the firing even in our own Muslim controlled 'safe area' became intense and we slept between the walls in the corridors on the floors in our apartments, which happened many times thereafter, consensus in the community was that families and students be immediately evacuated by air to Pakistan.
A number of incidents scarred the community. There was intense shelling in the direction of the locality, Basta, in which Taleb Khursheed Mir was living. My wife and I rushed to his building as soon as the shelling subsided. We found his family in a state of shock.
The shell had fallen on the wall of their building and caused a huge hole; its bang mortified them. During this RPG exchange of fire, one day my daughter was studying in quite a safe room in the residence when a shrapnel of the bomb hit the sliding door glass which faced the back of the road. It just stopped on the glass making a dent in it.
The most tragic incident was that of the father of one of our stenographers, Ansari. He had been transferred to Libya but due to uncertainty of flights he was waiting to leave for Libya. He was living in the heart of Muslim area. His old father a hafiz was living with him and also teaching reading of the Quran to Pakistani children to earn some money for his own expenses.
My son was also his pupil. One night Ansari telephoned me while the bombing was going on in his area, that his father's eye had been damaged by a shrapnel and his face is covered with blood.
He was taking to the American University Beirut Hospital which was quite near his locality and in the thick of Muslim area. Next morning I went to the hospital to see him and assure the hospital not to very about the cost of his treatment that we will pay for his treatment. I will be responsible for payment whatever be the cost.
When I reached there one of his eyes had been taken out. Smilingly he said: Koreshi Saheb, I lost only one eye. By the grace of Allah the other is still alright. I can still see, I heat that Dr Rizvi in Karachi operates and plant another eye "I was shaken in the faith in Allah of this old man. Another man would be cursing his bad luck that he was in Beriut in such horrible situation.
Rumour circulated in the diplomatic corps that briefing his community, the American Ambassador said that he feared an Israeli intervention, and asked the Americans to leave Lebanon.
A US Naval ship was commandeered to take American and European national out to Nicosia because roads were unsafe. The boat anchored in front of my building, which was on the sea shore. I bet ten dollars with my Indian counterpart, Ambassador S K Singh, that Israel would not intervene in South Lebanon, as it would lead to a war with Syrian forces who had till then been out of the fray. SK was quite friendly to me as he claimed to come from Agra and knew my wife's family. S K came to Pakistan in the mid eighties as Indian High Commissioner.
I won the bet but later when he offered me the wager I did not accept it. In those conditions all foreign embassies started evacuation of their nationals. We planned evacuation of Pakistanis.
We collected the labourers and Pakistani students in the embassy, (including Arshad Imam, of Jung's Editorial Board Karachi) who was in Beirut in those days) and told them that time had come to be ready for evacuation. During the time foreigners were evacuating Beirut I asked the French bomb disposal expert who lived in the Shell building, when I encountered him in the parking lot, whether he too was leaving. He replied as long as your are in this building I will stay here.
There were over two hundred Pakistani construction labourers, because after the 1973 clashes between Palestinians and Lebanese Army, Syrian labourers had left Lebanon and the Lebanese Construction companies filled the vacuum by importing Pakistani labourers. Evacuation through land to Damascus was considered the best course for our labourers and for the rest by PIA to Karachi.
Since some pockets on this direct route to Damascus were battle grounds between the two factions, the labourers had to go through the much neglected route through Aramoun to Souk el Gharb to B'hamdoun to Damascus. This was discovered by our embassy drivers.
We contacted the armed militia group, which controlled the exodus from Aramoun to help. In those days there was no visa for travel between Lebanon and Syria. Pakistanis were welcomed and not treated like a pariah. Our labourers were reluctant to leave Lebanon, but when a Christian armed gangs shot dead some Muslims after asking their names indicating whether they were Muslims or Christians, our labourers got scarred.
Two of them came to me in panic asking to be sent home narrating their near elimination. One of them said that a 'Kataib' - (Phalangist) - gang lined them up and wanted to shoot them. They asked him from where they were. One said "Lahore" the gang leader laughed. "I am an engineer. I have a good friend in Lahore. I cannot kill you. Get out from here.
"They ran from there. Another labourer came to me when killing started in Baf Idris. He was staying in a cheap hotel there. The Kataib surrounded his hotel and lined up the Muslims to shoot them. He was asked, "What are youa? A Muslim" "No Then what"? "A Qadiyani" "What is that?" He said another religion. His life was spared. He told me that this was good way of saving his life. He was a man of great presence of mind. It was difficult for the labourers to leave Beirut quickly in some cases, their Lebanese work visas had expired, in some the passports had expired, or were lost or left in the area from where they had fled. They had to leave in a day or maximum two. We overcame these difficulties through a helpful Lebanese head of immigration at the Border check post Taleb Khusheed Mir and Aziz Khan (later an Inspector General of police) arranged - no bribe and without paying any money - to let them pass with expired visas to cross to Syria. Duplicate passports were issued on the spot in lieu of lost or misplaced passports by Aziz Khan, ignoring the required formalities completion of which normally takes a couple of months. Earliest it could take a month to complete them in normal circumstances. Sending Pakistanis by PIA was not so easy. Offices of most of the air lines were in the center of the town which was under bombardment. Even PIA office which was near embassy was under fire and closed. PIA District Manager Sultan Haider co-operated remarkably well. He and his staff went to the office, to take out the air tickets, risking bombardment of the area, brought them to the office on foot from there, and worked from the embassy to issue air tickets till late in evening even to some they issued tickets at the air port against cheques, since banks were closed.
After making these arrangements, I worried about bringing my only daughter from her school in Beit Mary, which had become the military headquarters of the Kataib. The English Principal of her Brumanna High School had assured me that his area was absolutely safe! She was in their boarding house just for the time being.
But after the bombardment, Brumann was cut off from Beirut. In between were the "battle fields" of Tel el Zater and Sin el Feel, where at that time intense fighting was taking place between Palestinian Commands and Kataib. It was necessary to send her by the PIA that very evening. Once again I went to (Brigadier General) Yusuf Harike for help. How much can one praise his friendship. I just walked into his house in Ouzzai and requested his help.
Right away, he got up, picked up his pistol, took some police guards, and in his wireless fitted police jeep, we drove up the hill through unfrequented small lanes and unfrequented paths in the mountains reached Brumanna after two and half hours drive. He was very familiar with those "paths".
As he told me he had been posted during his junior officers days in police stations in that area. His wireless was constantly receiving police broadcasts of exchange of fire between the two sides indicating that the situation was becoming worst every moment.
When I was going to Brumanna, a Palestinian local staff of our embassy asked us to bring back from that area his wife who was stranded there. After Harike and I reached my daughter's boarding house, a Maronite teacher of my daughter asked me to take a message for his daughter stranded in West Beirut. He was as worried about his daughter in Muslim areas as I was worried about mine in Christian area. I promised not only to convey the message but also to render her any help she needed.
The road to Beirut airport skirted by Sabra and Chatilla, Palestinian Refugee Camps. There the Lebanese Army and the Palestinian commandos were exchanging fire. Air Port was still under Government control, I could depend on the PLO to ensure our safe passage through to the Beirut Air Port. PIA was kind enough to take a full load from Beirut Air Port. I let both the embassy cars, staff car and Ambassador's official cars to be used for transporting Pakistani families, to the air port.
Even some stranded labourers were sent in the day to the nearest place from where they could catch the taxis to Aramoun. No taxis were plying on the airport road, because it was in the shelling zone. These 'sacred' cars were made available free to any Pakistani who was without transport totally ignoring the rules about their use only for official duties what greater official duty was there than to save the lives of Pakistanis.
Hundreds of persons were at the air port waiting for their planes to evacuate them from Beirut. The PIA plane was late by several hours, because sometimes the planes had to wait to let the shelling around the airport to stop to land. Half an hour past mid night the PIA special plane carried 180 Pakistani passengers from Beirut for Karachi.
It was the last day the airport remained functioning. When I returned from the airport, we all felt light not having any worry about the safety of the families. We could get out of Lebanon at any time given my relations with the leaders of various militias and PLO. I was confident that I could take them out to safety if our stay in Beirut became impossible.
(To be continued)