Search Results - Zia Ul Haq

Zia-ul-Haq

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq}}, .}} (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of the army staff of the Pakistan Army from 1976 until his death. Zia's role as Pakistan's longest-serving head of state and chief of the army staff resulted in the development Ziaism, his personal political thought that steered his administration of Pakistan as president.

Born in Jullundur, Zia joined the British Indian Army and trained at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun before fighting in the Second World War. Following the Partition of India in 1947, he joined the Pakistan Army as a part of the Frontier Force Regiment. During Black September, he played a prominent role as an advisor of Jordanian Armed Forces against the Palestine Liberation Organization. In 1976, Zia was elevated to the rank of general and was appointed as chief of the army staff by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, succeeding Tikka Khan. In July 1977, Zia organized Operation Fair Play, in which he overthrew Bhutto, declared martial law, and suspended the constitution. The coup was the second in Pakistan's history.

Zia remained ''de facto'' leader for over a year, assuming the presidency in September 1978. He directed a policy of 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 mujahideen. 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 Khan Junejo prime minister, though he accumulated more presidential powers through the EIghth Amendment to the Constitution. He dismissed Junejo's government on charges of economic stagflation and announced a general election in November 1988. However, n August 1988, while travelling from Bahawalpur to Islamabad, Zia died in an aircraft crash near the Sutlej River. He is 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 right-wing conservatives 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. Provided by Wikipedia