Zia Ul Haq 1977 to 88 ( O Level Pakistan studies)

 Zia Ul Haq 1977 to 88

Q. Explain about the steps taken by Zia for Islamization in Pakistan. Do you think that these steps were taken to bring real Islam in Pakistan?

These reforms tried to introduce Islam and evaluated the whole constitution 1973 in the light of Holy Quran and Sunnah by federal Shariat court. Most of the laws related to hudood ordinance were introduced without much explanation in the law so those could be misused for personal purposes. Female group in the society disliked the ways these rules were implemented. It was also mentioned by some cities that these were to take revenge from the political opponents such Pakistan Peoples Party for example Benazir Bhutto, Nusrat Bhutto etc. in control till his death.

During Zia’s rule several laws were passed which restricted the power of courts. In March 1980, provincial constitutional order took away the right of the courts to challenge any political executive decision. This was the reason that court did not comment on any of the changes of law. The civil services were bought under military control. Zia filled up many post with military officers and fixed quota if military men wanted transfer into civil services academy each year. In this manner Zia was able to infuse military into bureaucracy and influence such a high position institution in Pakistan.

 In 1979 he established Federal shariat court. This had the responsibility to recheck the existing laws and decided about keeping or rejecting laws on the basis of Islam. This court had 5 judges and a chairman with 3 ulamas. They started assessing the constitution clause by clause to ensure the implementation of Islamic system.

In 1977, Hudood ordinance was promulgated in the country. According to hudood ordinance different punishments were prescribed for various crimes ,for example amputating of right hand for theft and eighty stripes of cane for drinking alcohol, hanging/stoning till death for adultery and zakat usher ordinance for Muslims. The law of qazf was also introduced that if some woman blamed on the man for rape and she could not provide that with four witnesses she was imprisoned for seven years according to qazf law. Most of the laws were badly affecting women in the society.

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A new offence related to the disrespect of the holy prophet (pbuh) was introduced with imprisonment or fine or other punishments, even death sentence. The legal framework of the constitution was tried to bring closer to Islamic laws. Profit sharing instead of interest was also introduced in the banks. Zakat ordinance introduced implementing 2.5% tax on saving over a certain amount was implemented. Zakat committers were established to provide this money to orphans, widows and poor in the society. The usher ordinance was imposed as a tax on live stock agricultural income. These rules tried to purify the economic laws of the country. That is why Islamic system was introduced by Zia-ul-Haq.

Some other steps were taken for educational and job related aspects of society for example Arabic language was promoted. Radio and television introduced such courses and programs which helped to learn Arabic. Daily news were broadcasted in Arabic, Urdu, English language. School textbooks published more Islamic material. Male set of the society was encouraged while women were discriminated, women were encouraged to stay at home and avoid working in public and private sector. Interest free banking system was introduced in the banks as interest was prohibited in Islam but this could not be practically implemented. Islamiat and pakstudies were declared compulsory in schools and colleges same way learning of Quran by heart (hifz) was credited with 10 marks in the merit of all institutions.

Islam is value greatly by Pakistanis. Zia knew about these emotions of this countrymen. He formed Majlis-e-Sharia, Islamic parliament to advise him on his government. However, these all members were appointed by Zia himself and they could be dismissed by Zia only. Along with this they had no legislature power so they were only the evaluators about each step taken by the government in the light of Islam. When they were totally dependent on upon the government they never gave any point which could displease Zia in this manner. Zia kept his complete control on the all aspects of the government. Finally, it can be clearly evaluated that the real purpose of Zia was to increase his personal power and prolong his rule using the name of Islam.

Q: What was Afghan Miracle? (4)

Ans: The soviet Afghan war of 1979 had an immediate impact on the international relations of Pakistan. Now Zia was a leader of a Muslim nation of the front line against the communal forces of oppression. The west provided Pakistan with unconditional economic and military support to establish Pakistan as the base of anti-soviet activities. These lead huge sums of money being powered into Pakistan to pay for the rehabilitation of refugees and to develop Pakistan army. As a result, Zia was able to build up an effective military force with Karachi as the best naval base in the region. Pakistan was also able to sell military assistance to other Muslim countries. The influx of funds allowed Zia to undertake a degree of economic reforms. He denationalized many companies and the few that remained nationalized were made more effective. Laws were passed in favor of investors and the annual growth in the GDP was 6.2% the highest of the world.

Q: Explain about the reasons of end of Zia-Ul-Haq’s rule? (7)

Ans: Zia-Ul-Haq’s first click Here problem in his rule was to deal with the ‘Bhutto issue’. When it ended as the execution of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto whole of PPP and its supporters turned against him, to keep them out of the way Zia kept on delaying the election and when he did decide to hold them on around 6 years later in 1983 he announced that the candidates will be separate individuals and not parties .This angered the political parties and a national protest movement the movement for restoration of democracy (MRD) emerged, which campaigned for free elections with political parties fielding candidates. MRD caused many problems for Zia and forced him to take actions which turned even more people against him. Now that Zia had stabilized the country’s position, i.e. by highly strict military rule, his main aim was to try and prolong his rule using ways like the referendum, replacing judges and limiting court powers, and introducing the Islamization policy to get favours from Ulamas. 

This resulted in judges, minorities and the public turning against him. Zia’s reforms related to women resulted in them staying indoors and not practice any jobs and their rights being taken away. Their position declined majorly, which brought Zia even more harm. Pakistan Muslim League started getting more attention and Junejo’s powers grew. He threatened Zia so he dismissed Junejo and his followers became Zia’s opponents. Click Here Due to the Afghan Miracle, lots of weapons from USA came into Pakistan and became common on the streets, threatening law and order. Drug trade and violence grew, and killing and corruption increased as a result. The provinces of Pakistan were distributed and each was in its own blunder. There was a state of confusion in the country. This huge opposition and the chaotic situation of Pakistan was what ultimately caused Zia’s rule to end in 1988.