Zia Era (1977 – 1988)
Prepared By Group 05
Muqadas Bibi UW-22-ENG-BS-050
Almaas UW-22-ENG-BS-043
Zahra Batool UW-22-ENG-BS-044
Iqra UW-22-ENG-BS-049
Sawera UW-22-ENG-BS-072
Early Life
Muhammad Zia ul Haq was born in Punjabi family in
Jalandhar Punjab Province of British India on 12 Aug 1924
the second child of Muhammad Akbar who work as a
staff clerk in the army.
Education
He completed his initial education in Simla.
He went to Stephen College of university of Delhi for BA
degree in history Which he graduated with highest
marks in college in 1943.
He married Shafiq Jahan in 1950.
Begum Shafiq Zia died on 6 January 1996.
Military
On 1st March 1976, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
approved their three star rank general lieutenant general
Zia as a chief of Army staff and to be elevated to four star
rank.
Zia was commissioned in the British Indian Army in the
guides cavalry on 12 May 1943 after graduating from the
officer training school Mhow.
After Pakistan gained it's independence through a
partition in 1947,Zia joined the newly formed Pakistan
Army as a Captain in the guides cavalry Frontier force
regiment.
Coup
On 8 January 1977 ,a large number of opposition political
parties grouped to form the Pakistan National Alliance
(PNA).
The coup (called operation play) transpired in the small
hours of 5 July 1977.
Soon, all the opposition leaders called for the overthrow
of Bhutto 's regime .On 21 April 1977 Bhutto imposed
martial law in the major cities.
Zia planned the coup d'etat carefully, as he knew Bhutto
had integral intelligence in Pakistan Armed forces.
Martial Law
After deposing prime minister Bhutto on 5 July 1977, Zia-ul-
Haq declared martial law and appointed himself chief martial
law administrator, which he remained until becoming president
on 16 September 1978.
Former elected prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was arrested
during the coup but released shortly afterwards.
On September 3, 1977 he was arrested again by the army on
charges of authorizing the murder of a political opponent in
March 1974. The trial proceedings began 24 October 1977 and
lasted five months. On 18 march 1978, Bhutto was declared
guilty of murder and was sentenced to death.
Referendum
After Bhutto’s execution, momentum to hold elections began
to mount both internationally and within Pakistan. But before
handing over power to elected representatives, Zia-ul-Haq
attempted to secure his position as the head of state.
A referendum was held on 19 December 1984 with the option
being to elect or reject the General as the future President, the
wording of the referendum making a vote against Zia appear to
be a vote against Islam.
According to official figures 95% of votes were cast in favour of
Zia, however only 10% of the electorate participated in the
referendum.
Polices
The “primary” policy, or “centerpiece” of Zia’s
government was “Sharization” or “Islamization“.
Zia went much further, committing himself to enforce
Nizam-e-Mustafa (“Rule of the prophet” or Islamic
System, i.e. establishing an Islamic state and sharia law), a
significant turn from Pakistan’s predominantly secular
law, inherited from the British.
Conservative ulama (Islamic scholars) were added to the
Council of Islamic Ideology"
Nuclear State
One of the earliest initiatives taken by Zia in 1977, was to militarize
the integrated atomic energy programme which was founded by
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972.
This whole giant nuclear energy project was transferred into the
administrative hands of Major-General Akbar who was soon made
the Lieutenant-General and Engineer-in-Chief.
Akbar proved to be an extremely capable officer in the matters of
science and technology when he aggressively led the development
of nuclear weapons under Munir Ahmad Khan and Abdul Qadeer
Khan in a matter of five years.
By the time, Zia assumed control, the research facilities became
fully functional and 90% of the work on atom bomb project was
completed."
Death
Zia now found himself in a position to demand billions of
dollars in aid for the mujahideen from the Western state.
Zia died in a plane crash on 17 August 1988.
After witnessing a US M1 Abrams tank demonstration in
Bahawalpur, Zia had left the small town in the Punjab
province by C-130B Hercules aircraft.
The aircraft departed from Bahawalpur Airport and was
expected to reach Islamabad International Airport.
Shortly after a smooth takeoff, the control tower lost
contact with the aircraft.
