activities of Major-General Zaheerul Islam Abbasi who himself was posted at the Army GHQ. The MI tapped the conversations and tracked down the culprits behind the coup. Upon revelation, Lieutenant-General Karamat forwarded the case and facilitated the high-ranking joint JAG court hearings at the specified military courts, and convened many proceedings while the hearings were heard by the military judges led by a Vice-Admiral. His actions were widely perceived in the country, and for his efforts, General Karamat was conferred with national honours in public conventions and state gatherings. Chief of Army Staff After approving the retirement papers of General Kakar, Lieutenant-General Karamat was appointed the Chief of Army Staff by Prime Minister Benazir who approved the paperwork for this appointment on 18 December 1995. As per Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's approval, President Farooq Leghari confirmed the promotion of Lieutenant-General Karamat to the four-star rank and was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff when General Kakar was due to retire on 12 January 1996. At the time of his promotion, he was the senior most general at that time, and therefore at promotion to four-star general, he superseded no one. At the time of his promotion, there were four senior generals in the race to replace Kakar as Chief of Army Staff: Lieutenant-General Jehangir Karamat, chief of general staff (CGS); Lieutenant-General Nasir Akhtar, quartermaster general (QMG); Lieutenant-General Muhammad Tariq, inspector-general training and evaluation (IGT&E) at the GHQ; and Lieutenant-General Javed Ashraf Qazi, commander XXX Corps stationed in Gujranwala. As Chief of Army Staff, General Karamat tried to work with the Prime minister and President at once, but soon came to understand that the misconducts of politicians and bureaucrats would eventually lead to the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto's final government. General Karamat reached to then-Speaker of the National Assembly Yousaf Raza Gillani and "leaked" an intelligence information and tried convincing Benazir Bhutto and President Leghari to resolve their issues, and emphasised to focus on good governance. At one point, General Karamat wrote: Chairman of Joint Chiefs In 1997, Chairman joint chiefs Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan was due retirement. On immediate basis, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared in news channels to confirmed General Karamat as the new Chairman joint chiefs. The appointment was met no resistance in the military, and General Karamat appointed as Chairman joint chiefs; he supersedes no one. General Karamat drove Pakistan Armed Forces to focus