The Rawalpindi Conspiracy (also known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case) was an attempted coup d'état against the governments of Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, in 1951. The conspiracy was the first of many subsequent coup attempts against elected governments in the history of Pakistan. The coup was planned by Major-General Akbar Khan, a senior commander in the Pakistani army, in conjunction with 15 other military officers and left-wing Pakistani politicians. Causes According to writer Hasan Zaheer, there were three main causes of the Rawalpindi conspiracy. First, general discontent of Pakistani army officers with the performance of the Liaquat Ali Khan government, which they thought of as corrupt and incompetent. Second, the view of many Pakistani officers that the continuing presence of British officers in the Pakistan army was a security threat. Third, and most immediately, discontent with the government's handling of the Kashmir war with India (1947–1948). Army officers thought the government's acceptance of UN mediation and ceasefire was weak and squandered an opportunity to capture the whole of Kashmir. Participants Eleven military officers and four civilians were involved in the conspiracy. The main person responsible for planning the coup was Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan, the chief of general staff of the Pakistani army. During the Kashmir War, Khan had led the Pakistani forces under the pseudonym of "General Tariq." He was based in the northern city of Rawalpindi, where the army headquarters were located, while the political capital of the state was in the southern city of Karachi at the time. The civilian conspirators included leading Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who was notably active in left-wing politics and sympathetic to the Communist Party of Pakistan, and Sajjad Zaheer. Akbar Khan's wife, Naseem Shahnawaz Khan, was also believed to have motivated her husband to undertake this plot. Exposure and trial The conspiracy was foiled after the government was informed of the coup attempt by one of the confidantes of Akbar Khan. Government forces immediately arrested Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan and the other conspirators, including Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The army commander-in-chief, Gen. Muhammad Ayub Khan and the defence secretary Maj. Gen. Iskander Mirza had both remained loyal to the government. Ayub Khan immediately ordered the army troops to surround and take control of the army headquarters, where Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan was based. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan announced the foiling of the coup on 9