March 1951. The government passed the Rawalpindi Conspiracy (Special Tribunal) Act to set up a special tribunal to investigate the conspiracy. A trial was held for the 15 individuals accused, namely – Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan, Air Commodore M. K. Janjua, Maj. Gen. Nazir Ahmed, Brigadier Sadiq Khan, Brigadier M. A. Latif Khan, Lt. Col. Zia-ud-Din, Lt. Col. Niaz Muhammad Arbab, Captain Khizar Hayat, Maj. Hassan Khan, Major Ishaq Muhammad, Captain Zafrullah Poshni, Mrs. Naseem Shahnawaz Khan, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Syed Sajjad Zaheer and Muhammad Hussain Ata. After an 18-month trial conducted in secrecy, Maj. Gen. Khan and Faiz Ahmed Faiz were both convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Their defence lawyer was the notable Bengali Muslim politician Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. When Suhrawardy became the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1957, he obtained a reprieve for most of the conspirators. Aftermath Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated later in 1951, in October, in an unrelated attack by an Afghan in Rawalpindi. Gen. Ayub Khan launched the first successful military coup against the government of President Iskander Mirza in 1958, assuming the reins of the presidency himself until 1969. Major General Akbar Khan rehabilitated in Pakistani political life, becoming an adviser to Pakistani politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Upon coming to power in 1971, Bhutto appointed Akbar Khan as the chief of national security. Naseem Shahnawaz and Akbar Khan were divorced, and the former changed her name to Naseem Jahan (after her mother Jahanara Shahnawaz) and became a politician in her own right. Faiz continued to publish many works of poetry, and was appointed to the National Council for Arts by the Bhutto government. References Further reading Dryland, Estelle. "Faiz Ahmed Faiz and the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case." Journal of South Asian Literature 27.2 (1992): 175–185. Online Military coups in Pakistan 1951 in Pakistan Pakistan Coup d'état attempts in Asia Pakistan–Soviet Union relations Conspiracies Government of Liaquat Ali Khan