Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq

President of Pakistan (1978-1988)

• Born: August 12, 1924
• Birthplace: Jullundur, Punjab (now in India)
• Died: August 17, 1988
• Place of death: Near Bahāwalpur, Pakistan

Zia-ul-Haq led a military coup that overthrew Pakistani president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom he had executed. He imposed strict Islamic law, established a nondemocratic Islamic military alliance, and cooperated with the United States in the removal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. He enjoyed the longest period of rule by a single leader in Pakistan’s history, ending with his death in a suspicious plane crash in 1988.

Early Life

Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq (ZEE-ah-ewl-HAHK) was born in Jullundur, Punjab (now India), to a lower-middle-class Arain family. The Arain caste believed in education as a path to advancement. Zia-ul-Haq’s parents sacrificed to send him to Delhi’s well-respected St. Stephen’s College. After graduating from St. Stephen’s in 1944, Zia-ul-Haq joined the British Indian army and was trained at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. After graduation from the academy in 1945, he served in the British army and fought with British troops in Burma, Malaysia, and Indonesia during the latter part of World War II.

After the partition of India into India and Pakistan in 1947, Zia-ul-Haq joined the Pakistani army. He attended military school in the United States and served in Kashmir during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan. After the war he was promoted to colonel and to brigadier general in 1969. For two years he served as adviser to the Royal Jordanian army, training Jordanian soldiers for their conflict with Palestinian guerrillas. In 1972, Zia-ul-Haq was promoted to major general, and in 1976, Prime MinisterZulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed him army chief of staff. In 1977, Zia-ul-Haq led a bloodless military coup d’état that seized power from Bhutto, and he assumed the presidency in 1978.

Life’s Work

Upon assuming power, and beginning the longest period of military rule in Pakistan’s history, Zia-ul-Haq imposed martial law, despite earlier promises of holding free elections. He also suspended political parties, effectively gaining tight control over the government. His primary goal was the Islamization of Pakistan, based on his interpretation of Islamic law, an interpretation that was promilitary. He placed military staff into numerous important civilian positions.

Zia-ul-Haq further attempted to establish the Islamization of all aspects of the country, bringing legal, economic, social, and political institutions in line with Islamic principles. He used religion to gain political advantage and was often brutal in the application of Islamic law. He imprisoned hundreds of dissidents, having many publicly flogged in accord with this code. Women were particularly oppressed under the enforcement of Islamic law, prompting substantial criticism from around the world. These laws remain controversial into the twenty-first century and have been condemned by international human rights organizations as well as liberals and moderates within Pakistan.

To divert attention from his consolidation of power as well as social and economic problems, Zia-ul-Haq used Islamization to divide people into mutually hostile sectarian groups, showing favoritism toward select groups practicing Sunni Islam. He effectively increased presidential powers and gained the ability to dissolve the national assembly at his discretion. Under Islamic precepts, he reformed the economy and encouraged foreign and domestic investment, which had been in great decline due to the nationalization policy of the Bhutto regime. Zia-ul-Haq reversed this policy and favored egalitarianism and industrialization, leading to an increase, between 1980 and 1988, in industrial production by 9 percent and gross domestic product by 6 percent, which at the time was among the highest percentages around the globe.

President Zia-ul-Haq’s economic reforms were greatly aided by support from the United States, which developed and increased after Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. The United States perceived strategic interests in the region and provided an economic and military aid package of $3.2 billion to Pakistan. Zia-ul-Haq’s international standing thus increased greatly, as he provided rebel training bases in Pakistan for Afghani fighters, helped the United Sates provide the rebels with weapons, and provided asylum to Afghan refugees. Overall, Pakistan played an important role in the eventual removal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1988.

Zia-ul-Haq continued Pakistan’s nuclear development program. Despite assurances that the program was strictly for peaceful purposes, it was clear this was not the case, as Pakistan would develop nuclear weapons in the 1990’s. Pakistan was severely criticized by the international community for not signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968) during the Zia-ul-Haq era.

Throughout his tenure, Zia-ul-Haq suppressed political activity, arguing that the country was not ready to return to democracy. Stating he was a taking a step toward a return to civilian rule, he called for a referendum to determine support for his presidency and for his Islamization policies. The referendum passed overwhelmingly, and Zia-ul-Haq considered it a mandate to remain as president for another five years. Elections were held in 1985, and there remains no doubt that the vote was rigged. The election was marred by allegations of widespread irregularities and technical violations of the law, and it did nothing to begin a shift toward more civilian rule. Ultimately, the election served only to legitimize Zia-ul-Haq’s nondemocratic government and increase his powers.

Challenges to Zia-ul-Haq had emerged by 1988. Differences between Zia-ul-Haq and Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo were becoming more apparent, and Ali Bhutto’s, daughter Benazir Bhutto , had returned from exile to challenge the legitimacy of Zia-ul-Haq’s rule. Benazir Bhutto was developing into a real threat to Zia-ul-Haq’s power. These factors, combined with a decrease in international aid following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, had Zia-ul-Haq in a difficult political situation. He would once again promise the nation that he would hold free elections within the next ninety days.

On August 17, Zia-ul-Haq was on a secret mission to a desert area in eastern Pakistan to meet the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Raphel, for a demonstration of the M-1 Abrams tank. Zia-ul-Haq’s plane exploded near Bahāwalpur shortly after takeoff, killing everyone on board, including Raphel. While the crash was certainly suspicious, it remains unclear what caused the explosion. Equally suspect in the case were the Soviets, the Indian government, Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party, and Zia-ul-Haq’s own military.

Significance

One of President Zia-ul-Haq’s most enduring legacies was his attempt at the Islamization of Pakistan a partial success. This policy continues to influence political and sectarian life in Pakistan. Some consider Islamization as mostly negative, implementing laws that discriminate against minorities and women and restrict the civil and political rights of Pakistani citizens. More conservative analysts argue that his policies restored dignity and religious integrity to the country. Another result of Islamization has been an increase in sectarian conflict and violence that continued into the twenty-first century.

Prior to Zia-ul-Haq’s regime, Pakistan was not a significant part of the world political stage. Because of the role the nation played in combating the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, however, Pakistan has become a major player in Middle East, South Asian, and world politics. The war with the Soviets, though, led to a substantial influx of drugs and arms into Pakistani society and to the increased dominance of the military in its government. These factors continued to assist terrorists within Pakistan, with many world leaders regarding the Pakistani army as a principal source of terrorism in South Asia. Finally, Pakistan also is considered a nuclear-weapons state, in large part because of Zia-ul-Haq’s support for the nation’s nuclear development program.

Bibliography

Abbas, Hassan. Pakistan’s Drift Into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America’s War on Terror. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2004. A very readable and balanced book that shows how Pakistan has developed into a haven for terrorists. The volume covers foreign policy blunders by the United States and the development of the Islamic and military alliance primarily resulting from the Zia-ul-Haq regime.

Azfar, Kamal, Craig Baxter, Shahid Javed Burki, and Robert Laporte, Jr. Pakistan Under the Military: Eleven Years of Zia-ul-Haq. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1991. A variety of writers analyze the restructuring of Pakistan and its emerging prominence in the international arena during the Zia-ul-Haq regime.

Haqqani, Husain. Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005. This book offers a somewhat different perspective on political developments in Pakistan since 1947, focusing on Pakistan’s simultaneously seeking support from the United States and continuing the Islamic and military alliance fostered by Zia-ul-Haq.

Kux, Dennis. The United States and Pakistan, 1947-2000: Disenchanted Allies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. This book is probably the most thorough analysis of the ever-shifting relations between the United States and Pakistan, with an emphasis on the Zia-ul-Haq regime. A particularly impressive resource, with published and archival sources as well as personal interviews.

Talbot, Ian. Pakistan: A Modern History. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Britain’s leading historian of Pakistan presents a modern history of the country since its founding after being split from India. A reliable and clearly written guide.