Pakistan International Airlines Flight 688 (PK688, PIA688) was scheduled to operate from Multan to Lahore and Islamabad at 12:05 pm on 10 July 2006. It crashed into a field after bursting into flames a few minutes after takeoff from Multan International Airport. All 41 passengers and four crewmembers on board were killed.

The victims included Asmatullah Khan (Manager Legal Services) of PIA, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Bhatti and Justice Nazir Ahmed Siddiqui, who served on the Lahore High Court. Three military personnel, Vice-Chancellor of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Naseer Khan, internationally renowned Pakistani Neurosurgeon Prof. Iftikhar Ali Raja and eight women, including two flight attendants and three doctors, were also among those killed. One of the flight attendants was pulled out alive, but later died. A list of names of the passengers and crew killed in the plane crash is available on Dawn's website. According to the Daily Jang Lahore newspaper, no one was pulled alive from the plane.

Flying Lotus (born Steven Ellison) is an experimental multi-genre music producer from Winnetka, California. His debut album, 1983, was released on Plug Research Records in 2006. He produced much of the bumper music on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block, for which he is uncredited, and he also contributed remixes for fellow Plug Research artists including Mia Doi Todd. He is often referred to as FlyLo by fans and critics. His grandmother was songwriter Marilyn McLeod. He is the great-nephew of the late Alice Coltrane, whose husband was John Coltrane. He is also the cousin of musician Ravi Coltrane.

In 2007, he announced that he signed with Warp Records. Following his Warp debut, the six-track Reset EP, he quickly became one of the label’s cornerstone artists and released his second album, titled Los Angeles, on June 10, 2008. In 2008, Flying Lotus also remixed "Reckoner" from Radiohead's album In Rainbows. His third album, Cosmogramma, was released on May 3, 2010, in the UK and May 4, 2010, in the US. In January 2011, Cosmogramma won in the Dance/Electronica Album category in the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards.

Pervez Musharraf (Urdu: پرویز مشرف, born 11 August 1943) is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled Pakistan as Chief Executive from 1999 to 2001 and as President from 2001 to 2008. Facing impeachment, he preferred to resign on 18 August 2008.

After years of military service, he rose to prominence when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him as the Chief of Army Staff in October 1998. Musharraf was the mastermind behind the controversial and internationally condemned Kargil infiltration, which derailed peace negotiations with Pakistan's long standing enemy India. He previously also played a vital role in the Afghanistan civil war (1996–2001) both in peace negotiations and in trying to end the bloodshed. After months of contentious relations with Sharif, Musharraf was brought to power through a bloodless military coup. Subsequently Nawaz Sharif was placed under a house-arrest, later shifting him to Adiala Jail.