General Mirza Aslam Beg ( ; born 2 August 1931), also known as M. A. Beg, was a Pakistan Army officer, who served as the 3rd Chief of Army Staff 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 as being elected Prime Minister in November 1988, and the restoration of democracy and the civilian control of the military in the country. Controversial accusations were leveled against him of financing the Islamic Democracy Alliance (IDA), the conservative and right-wing opposition alliance against left-wing PPP, and rigging subsequent general elections in 1990. As a result of general elections, Nawaz Sharif was elected 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. Beg's post-retirement has been characterized by controversies: first, Beg was accused of playing an internal role in the airplane crash that killed President Zia, and, second, he was summoned to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2012 for his alleged role in releasing the financial funding to the conservative politicians as opposed to the Pakistan Peoples Party's politicians during the general elections held in 1990. Biography Early life in India and education Mirza Aslam Baig was born in the small village, Muslimpatti, in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh in British India, to the Urdu-speaking Muhajir family that was well known for its Mughal nobility, on 2 August 1931. His father, Mirza Murtaza Baig, was an advocate and practicing lawyer who had held a well known prestige and respected name in the law circles of the Allahabad High Court. The Baig's family had traced a long ancestral roots of the Mughal Royal family who once were emperors of India from the early 15th century to the early 18th century. He was educated at the Azamgarh where he graduated from a local high school and enrolled at the Shibli National College for his undergraduate studies, in 1945. Subsequently, he earned Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree