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Political Phase Of ZIA Ul HAQ
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (1924-1988)
Posted by: HistoryPak
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, was the fourth chief martial
law administrator and sixth president of Pakistan. He was born on 12 August,
1924 in Jalandhar, India, and died on 17 August, 1988. Zia was born in
Jalandhar, India, in 1924 as the second child of Muhammad Akbar, who worked in
the Army GHQ in Delhi and Simla pre-partition.
He completed his initial education in Simla and then
attended St. Stephen’s College, Delhi for his graduate degree. After graduation
from St. Xavier College, Zia joined the British Indian Army in 1943.Prime
Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto appointed him Chief of Army Staff in 1976, after
retiring seven lieutenant-general in order to promote Zia ul Haq, to four star
rank. On July 5, 1977 Zia Ul Haq, planned and overthrew the ruling Prime
Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in a coup d’état, getting advantage of widespread
civil disorder. He became the state’s third ruler to impose martial law. The
primary line of his military government was his idea of religious conservatism
in Pakistan. After getting power throughout the 80’s Zia managed to get more
and more powers in his hands, and slowly and gradually put down all the
opposing forces in Pakistan. Initially he started his rule as Chief Martial Law
Administrator, but later became the president of Pakistan. Zia forcefully
crushed the secular-communist and socialist democratic struggle led by Benazir
Bhutto the eldest daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Zia abandoned the previous
economical policies of Bhutto, and replaced them with capitalism and
privatization of the major industries of Pakistan that had been nationalized by
Bhutto in 1970s. During his regime, the Pakistan economy became one the fastest
growing economies in South Asia. However, during this period of economic and
social change, Zia curbed and violently dealt with the political rivals in
1980s. His reign is often regarded as a period of mass military repression in
which hundreds of thousands of political rivals, minorities, and journalists
were executed or tortured.
Domestically Zia initiated the consolidation of nuclear
development earlier initiated by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He is also remembered for
denationalization and deregulation and the state’s Islamization. During his
tenure the Baloch insurgency was disbanded. He is most remembered for his
foreign policy; the subsidizing of the Mujahideen movement during the 1979
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which led to the Soviet-Russian withdrawal from
Afghanistan Socialist Republic. Zia entered into an undeclared secret war with
Soviet Afghanistan and its ally Soviet Union. Zia authorized secret funding and
expansion of intelligence operations in Pakistan and abroad, initially focusing
on anti-communist operations. He was described by some as a “fundamentalist Sunni
dictator”. Zia was commissioned in the British Indian Army in a cavalry
regiment on May 12, 1943 and served against Nazi Germany and its allies in
World War II. After Pakistan gained its independence, Zia joined the newly
formed Pakistan Army as a Major. His regiment was now the Guides Cavalry
Frontier Force Regiment. He was trained in the United States in 1962–1964 at
the US Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. After
that, he returned to take over as Directing Staff (DS) at Command and Staff
College, Quetta. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Zia was a tank
commander.
Zia was stationed in Jordan from 1967 to 1970 as a
Brigadier, helping in the training of Jordanian soldiers, as well as leading
the training mission into battle during the Black September operations as
commander of Jordanian 2nd Division, a strategy that proved crucial to King
Hussein’s remaining in power. By 1973, then Major General Zia was commanding
the 1st Armored Division at Multan.
He was then promoted as Lieutenant General and was appointed
commander of the II Strike Corps at Multan in 1975. It was during this time
that Zia invited Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as the Colonel-in-Chief of
the Armored Corps at Multan, using his tailor to stitch the Blue Patrols of his
size. The next day, Bhutto was requested to climb a tank and engage a target,
where the target was quite obviously hit. After the function, Zia met Bhutto,
placed his hand on the Qur’an and said, “You are the savior of Pakistan and we owe
it to you to be totally loyal to you”.
On March 1, 1976, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
approved then-3 star general Lieutenant-General Zia as Chief of Army Staff and
to be elevated to 4 star rank. This promotion was ahead of a number of more
senior officers. This promotion was highly controversial but had political
motives for Bhutto, who saw Zia as firmly religious and an apolitical military
figure that had distaste of politics.
Having known the weaknesses of the government Zia imposed
Martial Law, and from then on started his rule, which obviously are remembered
as one of the unfortunate phase of Pakistan history.
Zia died along with several of his top generals and admirals
and the then United States Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Lewis Raphel in a
suspicious air crash near Bahawalpur (Punjab) on 17 August 1988.
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