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ZIA UL HAQ (full)

Zia ul haq
1. Domestic policy
2. Foreign policy

President : 1977-1988
Martial law : 1977-1985

Domestic policies:
1. Islamisation
2. Economic
3. Constitutional
4. Political

● Blasphemy laws were introduced to prevent anyone disrespecting the


holy prophet. In case of violation the person would be fined or
imprisoned or will be imposed both
● Zakat ordinance made it compulsory on every Muslim and o pay 2.5%
Zakat on his wealth. Later the Shia Muslims were exempted from this
law.
● Usher ordinance was also implementer. Under this law 5% tax was
imposed on agricultural income.
● Interest (riba) Free banking was introduced which worked on the
principle of profit loss sharing system.
● Laws were introduced in respect of the holy month of Ramadan in
order to maintain the sanctity of the holy month.
○ Drinking and eating in public was banned and in case of violation

you could be fined or imprisoned or both.


● Pakistan studies and islamiat were made compulsory in school,
colleges and universities.
● Arabic courses were launched on television and radio and female TV
anchors or news casters were made to cover their heads
● Hafiz-e-Quran (memorisers of quran) were given special preference
in civil service examinations

Successes of islamisation.
1. Zia was able to successfully postpone the elections
2. His popularity amongst the religious elements grew rapidly

Failures of islamisation

1. The position of women in the country was affected particularly


because of qanun-e-shahadat which was also known as law of
evidence order. (This law was misused in Pakistan as it have female
testimony only half of the weightage as compared to a mans
testominy. Hence the females were given inferior legal status)
2. Zia’s islamisation reforms also had an impact on minorities. Zia’s pro
sunni policies and support of Sunni madaris led to Sunni Shia
conflicts
3. The activities of religious minorities were also restricted especially of
the Ahmedis. They were not allowed to declare their faith publicly,
build places of worship or make a call for their prayer.

Political reforms
1. Settling down the rebellion in Balochistan
2. Banning federal security force (FSF)
3. Tackling Bhuttos execution
Successes:

1. His success in settling down the rebellion and execution of Bhutto


further strengthened his position
2. He began a number of development projects in Balochistan

Failures:

1. Execution of Bhutto made his international image weak


2. By taking action against FSF, Zia was simply weakening his position
because it portrayed that Zia was taking vengeance on Bhutto’s
policies.

Economic reforms (most imp)


1. Industries we De-Nationalised and private sector encouraged re-
investing. Laws were passed preventing future nationalisation of
industries. If they were nationalised then the owners would be given
fair compensation.
2. Efforts were made to make the government run more efficiently.

Successes:

1. Pakistan’s GNP growth rate reached to 6.2% which was the highest in
the world

Failures:

1. The economic growth was basically due to influx of funds through


1.
western aid
2. The influx of funds led to increase in inflation

Constitutional reforms:
(#1) Under article 48 the following changes were made to the
constitution:
1. Article 48 gave automatic validity to any decisions taken by the
president. All his actions, even if they violated human rights,
were deemed to be legal.
2. All military decisions and actions since 1977 were legal and not
open to enquiry or later prosecution.
3. No decision taken under martial law could be changed without
the presidents consent.

(#2) Zia also passed the eighth amendment, Article 58 (2b) which stated
that the president would have the power to:

1. Appoint prime minister and provincial governors


2. Dismiss the prime minister
3. Dissolve the National and provincial assemblies.

Referendum (article 48)


(Asking for public opinion)

● In 1984 Zia called for a referendum


● The referendum was to ask for public vote to decide for the
continuation of Zia’s rule.
● MRD (Movement for restoration of democracy) called in the people of
Pakistan to boycott the referendum
● As a result the voters’ turnout was only 10%
● Those who casted their vote, gave it in the favour of Zia. Hence he
was confirmed as president.

Success:
1. Zia won the referendum and was confirmed as the president for the
next 5 years.
Failure:
1. But in reality the referendum was an embarrassing failure with huge
numbers of Pakistanis following the MRD advice not to vote.

1985 elections
(8th amendment)

● Following the referendum, general Zia announced national elections


in February 1985
● The MRD, opposed to Zia, had boycotted the elections, disagreeing

with the process as no political parties could contest the elections


and no campaigning was allowed
● General Zia himself banned political parties and detained their

leaders. Nevertheless more than 50% voted.


● A few of Zia’s own candidates were defeated which encouraged

people to accept the result as genuine.


Successes :

1. Zia still won a good majority. So with an election result that most
people accepted, and a defeat for the MRD, it was a success for Zia.
2. Following the elections, general Zia chose Mohammad Khan Junejo
as Prime minister who set about organising a political party and
calling it Muslim league to link with the memory of Quaid-e-Azam.
3. On 30th December 1985, martial law was finally lifted and political
parties could once again organise and campaign.

Failure:

1. But the power was still in the hands of the president due to the 8th
amendment.

Foreign policy
1. Afghan miracle
2. Relations with Muslim countries
3. Relations with India

Afghan Miracle
(Soviet invasion of Afghanistan)

The rivalry of Capitalism and Communism lead to Cold War (1946-1990).


The two countries which had Nuclear weapons at the time of WW2 were
USA and Russia (formerly USSR). They are rival countries but they haven’t
went into war because it would result in Nuclear warfare. (Aur abhi sab ki
phatti hui thee because nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki just
happened a few years ago). It is because of this USA and USSR went into
a proxy war.

USA Russia (Formerly USSR)


Capitalist Communist

Note: Communism is naturally Anti-Islam because in communism there is


no religion.

● 1977
○ There was a Soviet back coup in Afghanistan in which the whole

royal family was murdered and the military took over


● 1977

○ A group of Afghans rebel against the communist govt -> this

marks the start of Jihad.


○ The rebellion causes the communist govt to topple over.

● 1979

○ USSR invades Afghanistan to help and support its communist

government -> Start of Afghan war


There are 3 countries surrounding Afghanistan; Pakistan, Iran and Russia.
If Afghanistan became communist then it could spread to other countries
and spread around the world. USA didn’t want this but they couldn’t enter
Afghanistan through Iran because that same year an anti American govt
came in place into Iran. They also couldn’t come thru USSR. So they butter
Zia up and enter through Pakistan.
● USA was probably going to assassinate Zia but now they became

friendly and gave him benefits for helping them with Afghanistan. It is
because of this that this topic is called “Afghan miracle” (it was a
miracle for Pakistan.)
○ Initially Americans offered Pakistan 400 million dollars. Zia called

this “peanuts” then Americans offered 3.2 billion dollars


○ AFTER THAT HE WAS ALSO GIVEN 4 BILLION DOLLARS LATER

○ TOTAL OF 7.2 BILLION DOLLARS FOR ECONOMIC AID


○ HE WAS PRAISED AS THE “HERO OF THE WEST”
○ HE ALSO RECIEVED MILITARY AID WITH THINGS SUCH AS

STINGER MISSILES AND F-16 FIGHTER JETS


● 1979
○ Pakistan becomes the front line ally of the west in order to

support the mujahideen AKA taliban with things such as


weapons, funds and intelligence to fight against the Soviet
invasion.
○ ISI is praised even today for the downfall of communist Russia

● Problems for Russians


○ Mujahideen are using gureilla warfare and have great military

support. Mujahideen have no fear of death and have wish of


martyrdom
○ Even the civilians are fighting; including women and children.

● 10 years later Russia accepted defeat

Successes :
1. Pakistan was receiving unconditional economic and military support
from the west.
2. Zia was able to develop Pakistan’s army into an effective one which
enabled Pakistan to be a leading supplier of military assistance to
other Muslim countries. Karachi became the best naval port in the
region
3. Pakistan also started selling weapons and military equipment to other
Muslim countries
4. Zia’s foreign policing was also proving to be successful. Due to
Afghan miracle, his stranding in the west was quite good and his
good relation with Middle Eastern countries led more than 50,000
Pakistanis are working there and generating remittances of 4 billion
dollars per annum.
5. Due to western aid, Zia was able to inject capital in the economy due
to which economic growth rate reached to 6.2% which was highest in
the world.
6. The western aid also helped Pakistan to fund its nuclear program

Consequences of Afghan miracle:

● The soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to more than 3 million refugees


fleeing from the fighting into Pakistan. Such a massive and unplanned
influx caused many problems.
1. Tensions between refugees and and Pakistanis sometimes led to
violence.
2. There was a resentment at the large amounts of money being
spent on helping the afghans.
3. Competition over jobs was another cause of ill feeling.
● USA gave Pakistan a 3.2 billion dollar handout over 6 six years to help
it cope with the largest group of displaced people anywhere in the
world.
● After the end of the conflict, large numbers of weapons were
smuggled from Afghanistan. This lead to increased crime rate as
kidnapping, extortion, ethnic and sectarian killings started especially
in Karachi.
● Drug trafficking also became a major issue.

Ojhri camp disaster

The disaster occurred at a military storage center (arms depot) located in


Rawalpindi Military District on April 10 1988; the center was used as an
ammunition depot for Afghan Mujahideen fighting against soviet forces
from Afghanistan. The camp exploded on April 10th 1988 killing more than
4000 and wounding another 1,100 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad as
a result of rockets and other munitions expelled by the blast. There was an
allegation that the explosion was fone by army and ISI to cover up a
pilferage of the weapons stocks including stinger missiles.

Dismissal of Junejo

As a result of the ojhri camp disaster, hundreds of civil ads were killed with
thousands more injured. Prime minister Junejo announced an immediate
inquiry into the explosion and promised that whoever was to blame was to
be brought to justice - even if it meant the dismissal of important army
commanders.

This was a threat to Zia and the top leaders of the Army as it was doubted
that the head of army and ISI was involved in this incident. This was too
much for the army and for Zia. Junejo appeared to be gaining far too much
influence. Consequently on 29th may 1988 Zia used his powers under the
8th amendment to dismiss Junejo, dissolve the National Assembly and
impose martial law.

The case of exploding mangoes

On 17 august 1988 at 3:46 PM, general Zia-Ul-Haq accompanied by US


ambassador Arnold Raphel took off from an army base at bhawalpur en
route to Islamabad in a 4 engined Hercules C-130, PAK. They had been
inspecting the demonstration of a new American tank. Also Travelling with
Zia were 8 other generals including the head of the intelligence service.

Almost immediately after takeoff, radio contact with the plane was lost.
Villagers are Dhok Kamal watched in horror as the plane lurched up and
down in the sky before plunging into the ground.

A ball of fire followed as the wreckage exploded. All 31 people on board


were killed. It was 3:51 PM

Later on it was assumed that before takeoff, cases of mangoes were


loaded in the plane and poison flasks exploded in those cases causing
pilots to lose control of the aircraft.

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