Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq[a] (12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death. He also served as the second chief of the army staff of the Pakistan Army from 1 March 1976 until his death.
"Zia-ul-Haq" redirects here. For other uses, see Zia-ul-Haq (disambiguation).
GeneralMuhammad Zia-ul-Haq
- Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry
- Himself
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (as Prime Minister)
Muhammad Junejo (as Prime Minister)
12 August 1924
Jalandhar, Punjab Province, British India
17 August 1988 (aged 64)
Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan
5, including Ijaz
1943–1988
Zia was born in Jalandhar and trained at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. In 1943, he was commissioned in the British Indian Army and fought in the Pacific War of the Second World War. Following the partition of India in 1947, Zia joined the Pakistan Army and was stationed in the Frontier Force Regiment. During the Black September, he played a prominent role in defending the Jordanian Armed Forces against the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In 1976, Zia was elevated to the rank of General and was appointed as Chief of Army Staff, succeeding Tikka Khan, by prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
In July 1977, Zia organized Operation Fair Play, during which he deposed Bhutto and declared martial law. Zia remained de facto leader for over a year, assuming the presidency in September 1978. He directed the Islamization in Pakistan, escalated the country's atomic bomb project and instituted industrialization and deregulation, which significantly improved Pakistan's economy. In 1979, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Zia adopted an anti-Soviet stance and aided the Afghan mujahidin. He bolstered ties with China and the United States and emphasized Pakistan's role in the Islamic world. Zia held non-partisan elections in 1985 and appointed Muhammad Junejo prime minister, though he accumulated more presidential powers through the Eighth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan. He dismissed Junejo's government on charges of economic stagflation and announced general elections in November 1988. In August 1988, while travelling from Bahawalpur to Islamabad, Zia was killed in an aircraft crash near the Sutlej River. He was buried at the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.
Zia dominated Pakistan's politics for over a decade and his proxy war against the Soviet Union is credited with stopping an expected Soviet invasion of Pakistan. He is praised by Islamists for his desecularization efforts and opposition to Western culture. Zia's detractors criticize his authoritarianism, his press censorship, his purported religious intolerance and his weakening of democracy in Pakistan. This overall policy would lead to the philosophy that is Ziaism. Zia is also cited for promoting the political career of Nawaz Sharif, who would be thrice elected prime minister.
Military service[edit]
Early career and partition[edit]
Zia was commissioned into the British Indian Army on 12 May 1943 after graduating from the Mhow Officer Training School.[7] He was posted to the 13th Lancers, a cavalry unit accoutered with tanks.[7] During the Second World War, in May 1945, Zia participated in the Burma campaign and the Malayan campaign of the Pacific War against the Imperial Japanese Army.[4]
Following the partition of India in 1947, Captain Zia was the escort officer for the last train of refugees to leave Babina, an armored corps training center in Uttar Pradesh, a difficult journey that took seven days, during which the passengers were under constant fire as communal violence[20] broke out in the aftermath of Partition.[20]
In September 1950, Zia joined the Guides Cavalry.[21] He was trained in the United States from 1962–1964 at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. After that, he returned to take over as Directing Staff (DS) at Command and Staff College, Quetta.[22] During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Zia is said to have been the Assistant Quartermaster of the 101st Infantry Brigade.[23][24]
As a young soldier, Zia preferred prayers when "drinking, gambling, dancing and music were the way officers spent their free time."[2]
Role in Black September[edit]
Brigadier Zia was stationed in Jordan from 1967 to 1970 as the head of a Pakistani training mission to Jordan. Zia-ul-Haq became involved on the Jordanian side of the military conflict against Palestinian insurgents known as Black September. Zia had been stationed in Amman for three years prior to Black September. During the events, according to CIA official Jack O'Connell, Zia was dispatched north by King Hussein to assess Syria's military capabilities. The Pakistani commander reported back to Hussein, recommending the deployment of a RJAF squadron to the region. Zia-ul-Haq then went on to plan the Jordanian offensive against the Palestinians and commanded an armoured division against them. O'Connell also reported that Zia personally led Jordanian troops during battles.
According to the testimonies provided by Major-General A. O. Mitha, it was the Army Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Gul Hasan's lobbying at the Army GHQ which also saved then Brigadier Zia-ul-Haq from being terminated. Brigadier Zia had been recommended to be court-martialled by Major-General Nawazish in his submission to President Yahya Khan for disobeying GHQ orders by commanding a Jordanian armoured division against the Palestinians, as part of actions during Black September in which thousands were killed. It was Gul Hasan who interceded for Zia after which Army Chief General Yahya Khan let Zia off the hook.
Ascent to Chief of Army Staff[edit]
He was then promoted as Lieutenant General and was appointed commander of the II Strike Corps at Multan in 1975. On 1 March 1976, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto approved then-three star rank general Lieutenant-General Zia as Chief of Army Staff and to be elevated to four-star rank.[25][26]
At the time of his nominating the successor to the outgoing Chief of Army Staff General Tikka Khan, the Lieutenant Generals in order of seniority were: Muhammad Shariff, Akbar Khan, Aftab Ahmed, Azmat Baksh Awan, Ibrahim Akram, Abdul Majeed Malik, Ghulam Jilani Khan, and Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. But, Bhutto chose the most junior, superseding seven more senior lieutenant-generals.[27] However, the senior most at that time, Lieutenant-General Mohammad Shariff, though promoted to General, was made the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, a constitutional post akin to President Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry.[28]
Pakistani academic Husain Haqqani argues that Bhutto chose Zia[29] ahead of many senior officers for ethnic and caste reasons, thinking that an Arain would not make an alliance with the predominantly Pashtun and Rajput military officers in order to overthrow him, and this is also the reason why he let Zia push for more Islam in the armed forces. Thus Bhutto let him change the army's motto to Iman, Taqwa, Jihad fi sabilillah and let him offer books of Mawdudi to his officers as prizes during various competitions, despite the strong ideological antagonism between Bhutto and the Islamist thinker.[30]
Chief Martial Law Administrator[edit]
Pre-coup grievances[edit]
Prime Minister Bhutto began facing considerable criticism and increasing unpopularity as his term progressed; the democratic socialist's alliance who had previously allied with Bhutto began to diminish as time progressed.[31] Initially targeting leader of the opposition Vali Khan and his opposition National Awami Party (NAP), also a socialist party. Despite the ideological similarity of the two parties, the clash of egos both inside and outside the National Assembly became increasingly fierce, starting with the Federal government's decision to oust the NAP provincial government in Balochistan Province for alleged secessionist activities[32] and culminating in the banning of the party and arrest of much of its leadership after the death of a close lieutenant of Bhutto's, Hayat Sherpao, in a bomb blast in the frontier town of Peshawar.
Dissidence also increased within the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the murder of leading dissident Ahmed Raza Kasuri's father led to public outrage and intra-party hostility as Bhutto was accused of masterminding the crime. PPP leaders such as Ghulam Mustafa Khar openly condemned Bhutto and called for protests against his regime. The political crisis in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Balochistan intensified as civil liberties remained suspended, and an estimated 100,000 troops deployed there were accused of abusing human rights and killing large numbers of civilians.[33]
On 8 January 1977, a large number of opposition political parties grouped to form the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA).[34] Bhutto called fresh elections, and PNA participated fully in those elections. They managed to contest the elections jointly even though there were grave splits on opinions and views within the party. The PNA faced defeat but did not accept the results, alleging that the election was rigged. On 11 March, the alliance called a nationwide strike followed by vicious demonstrations demanding fresh elections.[35] Around 200 people were killed in the encounters between protestors and security forces.[35] They proceeded to boycott the provincial elections. Despite this, there was a high voter turnout in the national elections; however, as provincial elections were held amidst low voter turnout and an opposition boycott, the PNA viewed Bhutto's government as illegitimate.[36]
Soon, all the opposition leaders called for the overthrow of Bhutto's regime.[31] Political and civil disorder intensified, which led to more unrest.[37] On 21 April 1977, Bhutto imposed martial law in the major cities of Karachi, Lahore and Hyderabad.[38] However, a compromise agreement between Bhutto and opposition was ultimately reported.[39] Zia planned the Coup d'état carefully, as he knew Bhutto had integral intelligence in the Pakistan Armed Forces, and many officers, including Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan and Major-General Tajammul Hussain Malik, GOC of 23rd Mountain Division, Major-General Naseerullah Babar, DG of Directorate-General for the Military Intelligence (DGMI) and Vice-Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan, were loyal to Bhutto.