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ZIA-UL-HAQ RESPONSIBLE FOR EXTREMISM IN PAKISTAN ?? CAN WE BLAME A DEAD GENERAL??
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Muhammad Zia ul haq was the fourth chief
martial law administrator and sixth president of
Pakistan. He was born in
Jalandhar, India, on 12 August, 1924 and died on 17 August, 1988. After his
graduation he joined the British Indian army in 1943. Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto retired seven lieutenant-general in order to promote Zia ul haq to
fourth star rank. In 1976 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed Zia ul haq as the chief
of army staff and in 1977 Zia ul haq planned and over threw the rule of Bhutto
getting advantage of widespread civil disorder.
When Zia took power the
ruling class resisted the enforcement of Islam and only lip service and no
sincerity was given in this direction. Zia ul haq was aware of this and he took
series of steps and took practical measure. These creation of favorable atmosphere, reforms in
information media, ban on obscene adds, contact with Ulama and Mashaikh,
eradication of lawlessness, prayer in congregation, respect for Ramadan, better
facilities for Hajj, reorientation of education policy, making of International
Islamic University Islamabad, enforcement of Hudood ordinance, setting up of
Sharia court, sharia bench of Supreme court, Qazi courts, progress towards
Islamic economic system, National language and national dress, decisions about
Qadianis, enforcement of Sharia ordinance 1988. During the rule of Zia ul haq,
he created an atmosphere where acting towards Islam was liked and opposing it
was disliked. He became an example himself as he acted upon Islamic injunction,
performed Umrah. He prayed regularly and his speeches showed his devotion
towards Islam. His first reform was to control media as media played an
important role in creating favorable public opinion for a particular system.
Music and dancing was prohibited. Azan was aired five timed. Hajj rites were
broadcast. T.V. programs were stopped during iftar for a peaceful environment
for Muslims. To bring Islam enforcedly the support of ulama and Mashaikh was necessary so he made a rue
where the ulama and Mashaikh can give their opinion and criticize government if
they do not follow the path of Islam. Zia government attempted to maintain the
sacredness of virtue and protection. At first the lawfulness was upheld to
annihilate profanity and indecency, however later the pace of these changes
couldn't be kept up. Henceforth, with the progression of time the T.V. control
got casual and with the setting up of popularity based government, fear based
oppressors and dacoits got dynamic, and the purposeful publicity of security of
"chadar" and "chardivary" lost its appeal and validity. Arrangements
for the Zuhr prayers were made in all schools and government offices and
Nazimin-i-Salat was appointed who used to arrange the managements of the
prayers, and urged the people to offer prayers. To enforce the respect for Ramadan
special ordinance was released which is still followed. Many opportunities were
provided to people to perform hajj. To inculcate Islamic thinking in students,
general Zia ordered to review all textbooks and anything repugnant to Islam and
to the ideology of Pakistan was deleted. Pakistan studies and islamiyat was
made compulsory. Islamic international university was made in Islamabad to
research on fiqh and principles of sharia.
In 1979, 10 February four punishments were enforced which were cutting
of hand if theft, hundred lashes and stoning for death for adultery and eighty
lashes for drinking and for false accusation of adultery. The sharia bench of
the Supreme Court was the highest court for appeal regarding Islamic law and in
the same court the principles of Islamic Law could be discussed and
interpreted. For simple and speedy
decisions Qazi courts were made. An ombudsman was appointed in June 1981, who
could convey the complaints of the people. Few steps were taken to model the
economic system on Islamic lines. For instance, the enforcement of Zakat and
Ushar system. Zakat is annually deducted from saving accounts and GDP funds
when received, on the first Ramadan. Ushar was collected from those Landlords whose
yield exceeded 948 kg of wheat. To stop the dominance of western culture Zia
ordered all the high officials to wear national dress president and prime
minister also wore national dress on important functions. To promote national
language Urdu, it was said that president and finance minister would address in
Urdu. After few years all education would be in Urdu including the official correspondence,
but no effective steps were taken in this regard.
The era of the Zia
military administration proved to be a vital phase in spreading, infusing and
injecting religious fanaticism, radicalization, fundamentalism, sectarianism
and prejudice into Pakistani society. This has made Pakistan more worried about
interior security challenges than external ones, as radicalism and terrorism
take on the monstrous form of religious and sectarian militancy. The radical
reserves are existing in all corners of the country in the form of 'madrassas'.
Religious radical entities are playing a projecting role in the nationwide,
political and social ranges. Although the government of Pakistan and the
military formation, which previously supported these groups, are taking some
steps to decrease terrorism. It has become a very difficult task since the
genius of extremism and terrorism is out of the bottle and requires great
effort, patience and consistency to deal with.
Another form is sectional
terrorism that is at the top in the present tense. This form began to develop
during the period of Zia, whose government reinforced and forced the Deobandi
sect of Islam in varied cultural and religious masses. Sectional terrorism has
pretentious all parts of the country, but its irregular strikes are mainly
present in the north and south of the Punjab, affectation a real threat to the
country's countrywide security. This form was later used by the Pakistani
military founding on the Kashmir front. But now the dilemma has taken a hold
over the whole country and turned it into a jungle, where everyone is fighting
each other by adopting this name. After September 11, Pakistan's administration
and military founding turned their rules toward the Taliban, using talks and
military means to eliminate these groups.
Another social importance
that cannot be overlooked is the development of gender roles. The clarification
of Islam used as the basis of shariah laws was conventional, and often the role
of women was undermined and misunderstood. Women in Zia's Pakistan found
themselves increasingly pushed back, indirect behind high brick walls and
covered in cloth, all for their own "defense." Laws such as the
Hudood Decree were often misused as tools of suppression, with "numerous
of incidents in which a woman exposed to rape, or even gang rape, was finally
accused of Zina" Admiration for the elderly, equality Wife and husband -
features that were subordinated where strict Islamic principles came into play.
Although this culture was, to some extent, in place before Zia's time,
Islamization turned it into changed Islamist principles legitimized by the
administration.
All these policies proves his devotion towards
Islam and that he was a religious extremist who brought Islamic enforcement in
Pakistan. Most of his rules are still made obligatory and are followed. Like
islamiyat and Pakistan studies are still compulsory most of the offices and school
still pray at zuhr time, T.V. channels still show prayers and in Ramadan rules
are followed so that Muslims can fast in peace. Hajj still have opportunities
for people etc. his giving the power in the hands of Ullama also brought many disasters
in the government than and today like when In the late 1970s, General Zia-ul-Haq toppled
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's nonmilitary personnel government. Shorty subsequent to
coming to control, Zia made the Islamization of Pakistan the official
arrangement of his administration. In his drive to cleanse the nation of
"westernization," the liberal and exceedingly dynamic condition of
Pakistan's state funded colleges wound up noticeably one of the Zia's first
casualties. The Sunni Deobandi Ulama, including the JI's authority, were given
startling and intense parts in different state foundations. Amid the years Zia
was in control, the state-drove approach of disparaging the nation's
preservationist groups brought about the quick ascent of extraordinary
conservative political and religious understudy unions and their furnished
frameworks on grounds crosswise over Pakistan. Amid the war against the Soviet
Union in Afghanistan, state funded colleges in Pakistan, alongside madrassas,
demonstrated a powerful apparatus for the enrollment of warriors. As a result
of the Afghan Jihad, weapons begun to show up on college grounds in Pakistan.
The accessibility of and simple access to guns on grounds was endured by the
Zia administration to a great extent because of political reasons, related with
the president's endeavors to diminish Bhutto's support on college grounds that
for the most part originated from left-wing understudy unions. Moreover, it was
additionally amid president Zia's decide that the Islamization of understudy
legislative issues in state funded colleges made partisan divisions a long way
past the edges of religious theological colleges. Seemingly, partisan militancy
initially risen in Pakistan's state funded colleges when the Deobandi
understudy unions, driven by the IJT, turned to savage intends to accomplish
their goals in colleges crosswise over Pakistan. The "sectarianization"
of training at grounds was endured, if not energized, by Zia's military
administration. This in result made inward disorder as partisan fights at
instructive establishments in the nation. Sunni and Shia groups of various understudies’
unions bolstered and subsidized by Saudi Arabia and Iran individually, bobbed
into reality. Zia was a controversial figure and he was opposed by the elite
class of Pakistan as they were not satisfied by his Islamic enforcement.
REFERENCES:
Suddenly, I am reminded, once again, of how insignificant Man is! No matter how big a Phanney Khan he considers himself to be it takes a second to change everything! Why do we forget that whoever we may become there is always a power higher than all of us - we will eventually have to take responsibility for all that we have done. Watching Nawaz Sharif quietly leave the PM House brought to mind the beautiful - wato izzo mun ta shao wato zillo mantasha - beshak! I watched talk shows all through yesterday and found it actually funny how some anchors & participants made outright degrading remarks about a man who was the PM just a few hours back! Even Dr. Asim had an observation to make a question to ask!
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