General Muhammad Zia ul Haq

General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was a Pakistani military officer and politician who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death. He also served as the second Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from 1976 until his death. Zia was born in Jalandhar in 1924 to a wealthy family of landowners. He graduated from the Indian Military Academy and was commissioned to the British Indian Army in 1939. He fought in the Second World War in the Mediterranean theatre against the Axis powers and rose to major military positions in the British infantry division. Following the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he was promoted to several ranks in the Pakistan Army. In 1976, he became the chief of army staff, succeeding Tikka Khan, by prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In July 1977, he organized Operation Fair Play, during which he deposed Bhutto and declared martial law. Zia remained de facto leader for over a year, assuming 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 also hosted the second Islamic Summit Conference in Lahore in 1984. He was reelected in a controversial referendum in 1984 and held a general election in 1985, which was won by his supporters. He amended the constitution to give himself more powers and appointed Ghulam Ishaq Khan as the chairman of the senate. He faced opposition from the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, which demanded the end of martial law and the restoration of democracy. He also faced challenges from the religious parties, the ethnic nationalists, and the judiciary, who accused him of violating human rights, rigging elections, and suppressing dissent. He died in a mysterious aircraft crash near Bahawalpur in 1988, along with several other senior officials and the US ambassador to Pakistan. The cause of the crash remains disputed and controversial. He is regarded as one of the most influential and controversial leaders of Pakistan, who gave the country a strong military and nuclear capability, but also undermined its democratic institutions and civil society. [1]