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General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988. Distinguished by his role in the Black September in Jordan military operation in 1970, he was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976. After widespread civil disorder, he overthrew ruling Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a bloodless coup d'état on 5 July 1977 and became the state's third ruler to impose martial law. He initially ruled as Chief Martial Law Administrator, but later installed himself as the President of Pakistan in September 1978. Zia's major domestic initiatives included the consolidation of the fledgling nuclear program, which was initiated by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, denationalization and deregulation and the state's Islamization. His tenure saw the disbanding of the Baloch insurgency. His endorsement of the Pakistan Muslim League (the
founding party of Pakistan) initiated its mainstream revival. However,
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. He was described by some as a "fundamentalist Sunni dictator". Zia died along with several of his top generals and then-United States Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Lewis Raphel in a suspicious aircraft crash near Bahawalpur (Punjab) on 17 August 1988. Zia was born in Jalandhar, British India, in 1924 as the second child of an Arain, Muhammad Akbar, who worked as a senior clerk in the Army GHQ in Delhi and
Simla pre-partition. Upon Retiremment his father was given a job as
caretaker of the Baba Khel Mosque built and used by the local Burki Pathans. Zia joined the British Indian Army in 1943. He married Shafiq Jahan in 1951. One of his sons went into politics (Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq) becoming a cabinet minister in the government of Nawaz Sharif. He completed his initial education in Simla and then at St. Stephen's College, Delhi. He was commissioned in the British Indian Army in a cavalry regiment on 12 May 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 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 Maj Gen Zia was commanding the 1st Armoured Division at Multan. He
was then promoted as Lt Gen and was appointed commander of the II
Strike Corps at Multan in 1975. It was during this time when General
Zia invited Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as
the Colonel-in-Chief of the Armoured 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, General Zia met Bhutto, placed
his hand on the Quran and said, "You are the saviour of Pakistan and we
owe it to you to be totally loyal to you." On
1 March 1976, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto approved Zia-ul-Haq as
Chief of Army Staff, ahead of a number of more senior officers. At the time of his nominating the successor to the outgoing chief General Tikka Khan, the Lieutenant Generals in order of seniority were, Muhammad Shariff,
Muhammad Akbar Khan, Aftab Ahmed Khan, Azmat Baksh Awan, Agha Ibrahim
Akram, Abdul Majeed Malik, Ghulam Jilani Khan, and Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
But, Bhutto chose the most junior, superseding seven more senior
generals. However, the senior most at that time, Lt Gen Mohammad Shariff, though promoted to General, was made the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, a constitutional post akin to President Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry. Prime Minister Bhutto began facing considerable criticism and increasing unpopularity as his term progressed. Initially targeting leader of the opposition Khan Abdul Wali Khan and his opposition National Awami Party (NAP). 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 governments decision to
oust the NAP provincial government in Balochistan for alleged
secessionist activities 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 a leading dissident Ahmed Raza Kasuri's
father led to public outrage and intra-party hostility as Bhutto was
accused of masterminding the crime. Powerful 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)
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. On 8 January 1977 a large number of opposition political parties grouped to form the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA).
Bhutto called fresh elections, and PNA participated in those elections
in full force. 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. First, they claimed rigging for 14 seats and,
finally, for 40 seats in the National Assembly. They proceeded to
boycott the provincial elections. Despite this, there was high voter
turn out in national elections; however, as provincial elections were
held amidst low voter turnout and an opposition boycott, the PNA
declared the newly-elected Bhutto government as illegitimate. Firebrand Islamic leaders such as Abul Ala Maududi called for the overthrow of Bhutto's regime. Political and civil disorder intensified, which led to more unrest. Nevertheless,
a compromise agreement between Bhutto and opposition was ultimately
reported. Yet on 5 July 1977, Bhutto and members of his cabinet were
arrested by troops under the order of General Zia. After
assuming power as Chief Martial Law Administrator, General Zia promised
to hold National and Provincial Assembly elections in the next 90 days and to hand over power to the representatives of the nation. He also stated that the Constitution of Pakistan had not been abrogated whatsoever, but had been temporarily suspended.
However, in October 1977, he announced the postponement of the
electoral plan and decided to start an accountability process for the politicians.
Zia said that he changed his decision due to the strong public demand
for the scrutiny of political leaders who had engaged in malpractice in
the past (a large number of both PNA and PPP members had asked General
Zia to postpone the elections). Thus the "retribution first,
elections later" PNA policy was adopted. This severely tainted his
credibility as many saw the broken promise as malicious. A Disqualification Tribunal was formed, and several individuals who had been Members of Parliament were charged with malpractice and disqualified from participating in politics at any level for the next seven years. A white paper document was issued, incriminating the deposed Bhutto government on several counts. Nusrat Bhutto, the wife of the deposed Prime Minister, filed a suit against General Zia's military regime, challenging the validity of the July 1977 military coup. The Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled, in what would later be known as the Doctrine of Necessity (not to be confused with the 1954 Doctrine of necessity)
that, given the dangerously unstable political situation of the time,
General Zia's overthrowing of the Bhutto government was legal on the
grounds of necessity. The judgement tightened the general's hold on the government. Despite the dismissal of most of the Bhutto government, President Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry was persuaded to continue in office as a figurehead.
After completing his term, and despite General Zia's insistence to
accept an extension as President, Mr Chaudhry resigned, and General Zia
also assumed the office of President of Pakistan on 16 September 1978.
Thus his position was cemented as the undisputed ruler of the country. Over
the next six years, Zia issued several decrees which amended the
constitution and greatly expanded his power. Most significantly, the
Revival of Constitution of 1973 Order granted Zia the power to dissolve
the National Assembly virtually at will. On 4 April 1979, the former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged, after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence as passed by the Lahore High Court.
The Supreme Court ruled four to three in favour of execution. The High
Court had given him the death sentence on charges of the murder of the
father of Ahmed Raza Kasuri, a dissident PPP politician. Despite many clemency appeals from foreign leaders requesting Zia to commute Bhutto's death sentence, Zia dismissed the appeals as "trade union activity" and
upheld the death sentence. The hanging of an elected prime minister by
a military man was condemned by the international community and by
lawyers and jurists across Pakistan. Today it is widely accepted as a politically motivated judicial murder.
Despite the case whereby Bhutto was held behind the murder of Ahmed
Raza Kasuri, the trial is considered to have been biased against Bhutto
who it is generally believed to have been framed in the case.
The
Zia regime largely made use of installing high-profile military
generals to carte blanche provincial administration under martial law.
Zia's Guides Cavalry comrade Lieutenant General Fazle Haq was appointed Governor of North West Frontier Province. Haq's tenure saw the influx of heroin, sophisticated weaponry, and countless refugees in from neighbouring Afghanistan. Lieutenant General S.M. Abbasi was appointed Governor of Sindh; his tenure too saw civil disorder amid student riots. By contrast, martial law governor General Jilani of Punjab made much headway in beautifying Lahore, extending infrastructure, and muting political opposition. The ascent of Nawaz Sharif to Chief Minister of Punjab was largely due to General Jilani's sponsorship. Perhaps most crucially, General Rahimuddin Khan's appointment to the post of martial law Governor of Balochistan saw the disbanding of the Baloch insurgency, the containment of Afghan mujahideen, as well as the construction of nuclear test sites in the Chagai District.
In the absence of a parliament, General Zia decided to set up an alternative system, Majlis-e-Shoora, in 1980. Most of the members of the Shoora were intellectuals, scholars, ulema, journalists, economists,
and professionals belonging to different fields of life. The Shoora was
to act as a board of advisors to the President. All 284 members of the
Shoora were to be nominated by the President, also known as a technocracy or government of technocrats. General
Zia eventually decided to hold elections in the country. But before
handing over the power to the public representatives, he decided to
secure his position as the head of state. A referendum was
held on 1 December 1984, and the option was to elect or reject the
General as the future President. The question asked in the referendum
was whether the people of Pakistan wanted Islamic Sharia law
enforced in the country.
According to the official result, more than 95% of the votes were cast
in favour of Zia-ul-Haq, thus he was elected as President for the next
five years. However, they were marred by allegations of widespread
irregularities and technical violations of the laws and ethics of
democratic elections. Also, despite pressure from the government to
vote, only 10% of those eligible to vote did so. Zia had the
overwhelming majority of the votes cast, but in reality the referendum
was an embarrassing failure. After being elected President, Zia-ul-Haq decided to hold elections in the country in February 1985 on a non-party basis. Most of the opposing political parties decided to boycott the
elections but election results showed that many victors belonged to one
party or the other. To make things easier for himself, the General
nominated the Prime Minister from amongst the Members of the Assembly.
To many, his nomination of Muhammad Khan Junejo as the Prime Minister was because he wanted a simple person at the post who would act as a puppet in his hands.
Before handing over the power to the new Government and lifting martial
law, Zia got the new legislature to retroactively accept all of Zia's
actions of the past eight years, including his coup of 1977. He also managed to get several amendments passed, most notably the Eighth Amendment, which granted "reserve powers"
to the president to dissolve the National Assembly. However, this
amendment considerably reduced the power he'd previously granted
himself to dissolve the legislature, at least on paper. The text of the
amendment permitted Zia to dissolve the Assembly only if 1) the Cabinet
had been toppled by a vote of no confidence and it was obvious that no
one could form a government or 2) the government could not function in
a constitutional manner. On 25 December 1979, the Soviet Union (USSR) invaded Afghanistan.
General Zia, as President of neighbouring Pakistan, was asked by
several cabinet members to refrain from interfering in the war, owing
to the vastly superior military power of the USSR. General Zia,
however, was ideologically opposed to the idea of communism taking
over a neighbouring country, and made no secret about his intentions of
monetarily and militarily aiding the Afghan resistance (the Mujahideen) with major assistance from the United States.
Under
Zia, the previous ruler Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's nationalisation policies
were slowly reversed, and gradual privatisation took place.
General Zia greatly favoured egalitarianism and industrialisation.
Between 1977 and 1986, the country experienced an average annual growth
in the GNP of 6.8%, one of the highest in the world at that time. Zia
contributed to attaining nuclear capability for Pakistan, a program
started by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The country was made a subject of
attack by international organisations for not signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Zia deftly neutralised international pressure by tagging Pakistan's
nuclear programme to the nuclear designs of neighbouring India. He then
drew a five-point proposal as a practical rejoinder to world pressure
on Pakistan to sign the NPT; the points including the renouncing of the
use of nuclear weapons. He also funded a uranium enrichment plant based at the Kahuta Research Laboratories in Kahuta under Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan.
During General Zia's rule the nuclear plan was considered an important
national issue and international pressure was difficult to counter
unless several other pro-Pakistan nations were also groomed to become
nuclear capable. Dr. Khan was assigned this task and given free hand to
work with some like minded nations like North Korea, Iran and Libya who
also wanted to pursue their nuclear ambitions for a variety of reasons.
It was envisaged that this would deflect international pressure on
these countries and Pakistan would be spared the international
community's wrath. Dr.
Khan's dismissal from the nuclear programme in 2004 was considered a
face saving exercise by the Pakistani military and political
establishment under the then President Pervez Musharraf. Zia also supported the nuclear program being run in PAEC by Munir Ahmad Khan and sanctioned the launch of the 50 MW heavy water plutonium production reactor at Khushab in 1985. PAEC also
carried out the first cold test of a nuclear device on 11 March 1983
which was followed by several cold tests throughout the 1980s.
Zia's
international standing greatly rose after his declaration to fight the
Soviet invaders, as he went from being portrayed as just another
military dictator to a champion of the free world by the Western media. Pakistan–United States relations took a much more positive turn. U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance,
cut off U.S. aid to Pakistan on the grounds that Pakistan had not made
sufficient progress on the nuclear issue. Then, on 25 December 1979,
the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and Carter offered Pakistan $325
million in aid over three years. Zia rejected this as "peanuts." Carter also signed the finding in 1980 that allowed less than $50 million a year to go to the Mujahideen. After Ronald Reagan came
to office, defeating Carter for the US Presidency in 1980, all this
changed, due to President Reagan's new priorities and the unlikely and
remarkably effective effort by Congressman Charles Wilson (D-TX), aided by Joanne Herring, and CIA Afghan Desk Chief Gust Avrakotos to increase the funding for Operation Cyclone.
Aid to the Afghan resistance, and to Pakistan, increased substantially,
finally reaching $1 billion. The United States, faced with a rival
superpower looking as if it were to create another Communist bloc, now
engaged Zia to fight a US-aided war by proxy in Afghanistan against the Soviets. Zia
now found himself in a position to demand billions of dollars in aid
for the Mujahideen from the Western states, famously dismissing a
United States proposed $325 million aid package as "peanuts". Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and Special Service Group now became actively involved in the conflict, and in cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Army Special Forces supported the armed struggle against the Soviets. In 1981, Ronald Reagan succeeded Jimmy Carter as President of the United States. Reagan was completely against the Soviet Union and its Communist satellites, dubbing it "the evil empire". Reagan now increased financial aid heading for Pakistan. In 1981, the Reagan Administration sent the first of 40 F-16 jet fighters to the Pakistanis. But the Soviets kept control of the Afghan skies until the Mujahideen received Stinger missiles in 1986. From that moment on, the Mujahideen's strategic position steadily improved. The
Soviets declared a policy of national reconciliation. In January they
announced that a Soviet withdrawal was no longer linked to the makeup
of the Afghan government remaining behind. Pakistan, with the massive
extra-governmental and covert backing from the largest operation ever
mounted by the CIA and financial support of Saudi Arabia, therefore, played a large part in the eventual withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1988. The war left deep scars to the Pakistani society with the menace of Kalashnikov (AK-47 assault rifle) culture spreading all over the country. It
is estimated that there are currently 20 million firearms in Pakistan,
which has a population of 160 million i.e., every eighth person has a
firearm, most likely an automatic one. The rise of the illicit drug trade and
its spread through Pakistan to the rest of the world increased
tremendously during the Soviet-Afghan war. Afghanistan's drug industry
began to take off after the Soviet invasion in 1979. Desperate for cash
with which to buy weapons, various elements in the anti-Communist
resistance turned to the drug trade. This was tolerated if not condoned
by their American sponsors such as the CIA. Two Afghan Mujahideen groups later morphed into Jihadist outfits in the shape of Taliban and Al-Qaeda in the early 1990s. The Pakistan and US trained Arab and Afghan fighters later in 2001 initiated a 'Jihad' against US. The links of the spectacular and deadly events of September 11 were deeply rooted in the Soviet-Afghan war. Osama bin Laden invested
his inherited money into the Soviet-Afghan war to fight the 'infidel
communist power' and was abetted by CIA, ISI, US and Pakistani military
establishments for over 10 years. On 2 December 1978, on the occasion of the first day of the Hijra to enforce the Islamic system in Pakistan in a nationwide address, Zia accused politicians of exploiting the name of Islam: "Many a ruler did what they pleased in the name of Islam." After
assuming power, the government began a program of public commitment to
enforce Nizam-e-Mustafa (Islamic System), a significant turn from
Pakistan's predominantly Anglo-Saxon law,
inherited from the British. As a preliminary measure to establish an
Islamic society in Pakistan, General Zia announced the establishment of
Sharia Benches. Under the Offences Against Property (Hudood Ordinance) Ordinance, 1979; the punishment of imprisonment or fine, or both, as provided in the existing Pakistan Penal Code (PPC)
for theft, was substituted by the amputation of the right hand of the
offender from the joint of the wrist by a surgeon. For robbery, the
right hand of the offender from the wrist and his left foot from the
ankle should be amputated by a surgeon. Hudood (حدود, also transliterated Hadud, Hudud; plural for Hadh, حد,
limit, or restriction) is the word often used in Islamic social and
legal literature for the bounds of acceptable behaviour. Although the
punishments were imposed, the due process, witnesses and prosecution
system remained un-Islamic Anglo-Saxon. As in Islamic law Hudud can
only be given if four witnesses saw the crime happen, in reality hardly
anyone can be punished by Islamic Hud laws as very rarely can the
conditions for punishment be met. In legal terms, (Islamic law being
usually referred to as Sharia, شريعة) the term is used to describe laws that define a certain level of crime classification. Crimes classified under Hudud are the most severe of crimes, such as murder, theft, and adultery. There are minor differences in views between the four major Sunni madh'habs about
sentencing and specifications for these laws. It is often argued that,
since Sharia is God's law and states certain punishments for each
crime, they are immutable. It has been argued by some, that the Hudud
portion of Sharia is incompatible with humanism or
human rights. Although the Hud punishment were imposed but the Islamic
law of evidence was not implemented and remained British in origin. Drinking of wine (i.e. all alcoholic drinks)
was not a crime under the PPC. In 1977, however, the drinking and
selling of wine by Muslims was banned in Pakistan and the sentence of
imprisonment of six months or a fine of Rs. 5000/-, or both, was provided in that law. Under the Zina Ordinance,
the provisions relating to adultery were replaced so that the women and
the man guilty will be flogged, each of them, with one hundred lashes,
if unmarried. And if they are married they shall be stoned to death
provided 4 impeccable witnesses can witness the act of penetration. The
Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) were
amended, through ordinances in 1980, 1982 and 1986 to declare anything
implying disrespect to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Ahl al-Bayt (family members of Muhammad), Sahaba (companions of Muhammad) and Sha'ar-i-Islam (Islamic symbols), a cognizable offence, punishable with imprisonment or fine, or with both. Another addition to the laws was Ordinance XX of 1984. Under this, the Ahmadiyya were
barred from calling themselves Muslims, or using Islamic terminology or
practising Islamic rituals. This effectively resulted in classifying
the Ahmadiyya community of Pakistan into a minority group in law. Zia
was also considered anti-Shia because during his reign many Shi'a Muslims personalities
and politicians were killed, most prominently the judicial killing of
Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. General Zia-ul-Haq promulgated Ordinance XX on 26 April 1984, banning members of the Ahmadiyya community from performing some of their religious ceremonies and prayers. He
declared "This Ordinance may be called the Anti-Islamic Activities of
the Ahmadis (Prohibition and Punishment) Ordinance, 1984". Although
before Zia's rule, in 1974 Pakistan's National Assembly under Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto it was declared that Ahmadis are classified as non-Muslims for the definition of the law. But
it was not sufficient in stopping the missionary activities of the
Ahmadiyya community. Article 298-C of the new law states "Any person of
the Quadiani group or the Lahori group (who call themselves ‘Ahmadis’
or by any other name), who, directly or indirectly, poses himself as
Muslim, or calls, or refers to his faith as Islam, or preaches or
propagates his faith, or invites others to accept his faith, by words,
either spoken or written, or by visible representations, or in any
manner whatsoever outrages the religious feelings of Muslims, shall be
punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine." As
time passed, the legislature wanted to have more freedom and power and
by the beginning of 1988, rumors about the differences between Prime
Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo and Zia were rife. On
29 May 1988, General Zia dissolved the Senate and the National Assembly
and removed the Prime Minister under article 58(2)b of the amended
Constitution. Apart from many other reasons, Prime Minister Junejo's
decision to sign the Geneva Accord against
the wishes of General Zia, and his open declarations of removing any
military personnel found responsible for an explosion at a munitions
dump at Ojhri Camp, on the outskirts of army headquarters in Rawalpindi, earlier in the year, proved to be some of the major factors responsible for his removal. Zia
played the Islam card to defend himself and the generals against any
accusations of misrule and corruption. Gen Zia-ul-Haq and his generals
had made millions from the illicit heroin trade and
underhand weapons deals, besides huge embezzlement in funds diverted
towards the Afghan war. However since media in Pakistan was brutally
gagged in his days,
none of his corruption could be documented and brought to lime light by
the print media. When accused of trying to cover-up the Ojari camp
incident, on 29 May 1988, he invoked an amendment that he had recently
added to the Pakistani Constitution that allowed him to dismiss the
Prime Minister, dissolve the National Assembly and all provincial
assemblies - basically, the entire legislative portions of the
government outside of the Presidency. Zia's loyalists in the military
were called to form an interim government. Zia justified his actions
and diverted attention from his corruption by focusing on how the further Islamization of Pakistan had been negligently delayed by Junejo and his government. General
Zia-ul-Haq promised to hold elections in 1988 after the dismissal of
Junejo government. He said that he would hold elections within the next
90 days. The late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's daughter Benazir Bhutto had returned from exile earlier
in 1986, and had announced that she would be contesting the elections.
With Bhutto's popularity somewhat growing, and a decrease in
international aid following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Zia
was in a repetitively difficult political situation. In
1983, as a reaction to Zia's policies, the populist Movement for the
Restoration of Democracy was born and soon gained popularity in
Pakistan's smaller, poorer provinces, especially in Bhutto's home
province, Sindh. Zia's response to MRD was brutal with up to 45000
troops deployed in Sindh alone to crush the movement, besides thousands others sent to the remaining provinces. Thousands of civilians were killed. Zia's attack on MRD was perceived as a further assault, along with Bhutto's overthrow, on the Sindhi population.
Mrs Gandhi, Indian PM raised concerns over this brutality and violation
of human rights at the hands of Pakistan's military dictatorship (Dawn
14 August 1983). General Zia-ul-Haq died in a plane crash on 17 August 1988. After witnessing a US M1 Abrams tank demonstration in Bahawalpur, Zia had left the small town in the Punjab province by C-130 Hercules aircraft.
Shortly after a smooth take-off, the control tower lost contact with
the aircraft. Witnesses who saw the plane in the air afterward claim it
was flying erratically, then nosedived and exploded on impact. In
addition to Zia, 31 others died in the plane crash, including Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Akhtar Abdur Rehman, close associate of General Zia Brigadier Siddique Salik, the American Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphel and General Herbert M. Wassom, the head of the U.S. Military aid mission to Pakistan. Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the Senate Chairman announced Zia's death on radio and TV. The manner of his death has given rise to many conspiracy theories. There is speculation that America, India, the Soviet Union (as retaliation
for US-Pakistani supported attacks in Afghanistan) or an alliance of
them and internal groups were behind the attack.
His funeral was held on 19 August 1988 in Islamabad.
Also in attendance was his successor President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who
had earlier officially announced Zia's death in a nationwide address.
Zia's body was buried in a small tomb outside the Faisal Mosque. |