The significance of 5th July 1977 shall remain the day of deliverance from Bhutto's tyranny . By this day in the PNA movements against rigging of elections by Bhutto regime one hundred thousand people were arrested , three thousand had been killed , Martial law in three cities could not solve problem .
Though PPP PNA parleys were continuing but foreseeable was more conflict even if agreement could be reached on new elections . We the students were sitting at home for the previous four months and there was no end in sight . Army knew by that time that country's democracy is becoming a burden for the nation and law enforcing agencies.
Industrial production of the country went down by minus 2 % . BBC and Nawa e Waqt then a major newspaper supported the PNA ,Moscow Radio and Jang newspapers supported Bhutto
. Arab heads of state were tilted slightly towards Bhutto but country's religious right , the JUI ,JUP ,JI were against Bhutto , religious parties were not as weak then as now . Madrassa students would not budge from protests whatever the police brutality .
Bhutto,s workers were many but enthusiasm and dedication of religious right for whom the movement was about Tahrik Nizam Mustafa . This PNA agitation was the longest and the largest movement of the subcontinent after Pakistan movement itself till that time .
There was no functioning government in Pakistan when Zia took over , all what was left was strikes , murder on street by FSF , so called Muzakarat on radio , schools were closed for months , there was no future in sight for Pakistan . Bhutto had used up all tricks , he had killed 3000 on streets , 100000 arrests were made , it was almost fifth month of upheaval . Urban people of Punjab were antibhutto . Zia helped Bhutto by imposing martial law in three cities , but In Multan the protestors defied army ..The figures of deaths given above were submitted in High court Lahore by yahya Bakhtiar to defend imposition of martial law by Bhutto government .Finally Zia had to save Pakistan .
At stake was not just elections for likes of Nawabzada Nasrullah types and neither were the deaths being suffered for democracy and neither were the dead anybit parwanas of jumhuriat as some semi secular leaders of PNA who were in minority thought , this was a clash between the right and religious minded supported by sunni majority within country versus the shia supported Proliberalism and pro socialism PPP . It was about the future of Pakistan as a Muslim state versus its future as merely a state which Bhutto wanted .The second big clash was private enterprise minded versus public ownership of PPP,
The other side of the story can be read in Bhutto,s Book" If I am assassinated". Bhutto thought that Shah Iran and Ali Raza Abidi had some hand in it along with JI chief Tufail Muhammad . Bhutto by that time had annoyed so many people right and left and got eliminated so many opponents that no body disbeleived at the murder charge .
Whatever it was , though it was beginning not of a golden era but it era of sure progress under Zia , colleges opened , but Bhutto and PPP gave severe resistance , Indians and some western sought to use PPP even infiltrated it , colleges were again closed for both Bhutto's hanging and then for MRD resistance in 1981 . Bhutto saga wasted about 1 year of education of students every where .
MRD resistance with accompanying militarism in Sindh led to thought of organizing Urdu lot of hyderabad to counterbalance any seperatist tendencies this was beginning of idea of a strong Karachi party to counter sindh seperatists which PPP cover encouraged though GM Syed was superficially later on government side , Pagara cooperation with federation was helpful .
Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir wanted every ally they could get , several plots were hatched to kill Zia including one to use rocket at his plane , PPP leaders were not realizing at they are putting PPP open to Indian , Moscow agents .
Zia delivered the nation from uncertainty , they say he made preparations right under nose of Bhutto , Bhutto planned they say changing him next day ,but Zia struck first.
There were more press freedoms during Zia time than during Bhutto .
During Bhutto there was this defence of Pakistan rules any body who objected to Bhutto was put in jail .
This march of Pakistan to its original ideology continued till Junejo came as PM then politics ,heroin , bombs , Karachi violence started to arrive . Zia had to dismiss that silly Junejo , but real rollback of Pakistan ideology again started to occur with first Benazir and finally under Musharaf .Zia great achievement was that without sanctions , with noise , we got the bomb , till a UAE paper reported " How Zia fooled the world and got the bomb". His other great achievement was to stop the four centuries onward March on Muslim lands by Russia which despite power of Mughals and Request by Ottomans to Mughals to help Against Russia nobody gave .
Zia could not suceed in islamisation of laws as he could not fully fathom the vested interest of judiciary and police in Anglo Saxon law which gives them money and power which an Islamic system could not allow them . He overestimated the wisdom of clergy of Pakistan who could not motivate people and he faced opposition from liberals , minorities and shias who were not happy at loss of leading role in politics they played from Jinnah time onwards especially after sikander Mirza , as Mirza , Yahya, Gen. musa were all Shias .
Zia could not suceed for another reason , his senior generals were those who had started in British army where drinking and other western values were nurtured , his not been overthrown was itself a miracle . Junejo was a bad choice and whether Aslam Beg was good for him was doubtful .
Junejo instead of promoting muslim league gave immense leverage to Benazir just as Nawaz did for some time promote zardari .
By far the greatest headache was Afghan war , there was no more a friendly Shah in Iran , there were Mullahs in Iran who were not colluding with soviets publically but they were not helping Pakistan cause either. There was still no bomb and India under Desai was silent but ever watching . Reader digest described him as on tenterhooks . The stupid Attack of Iraq on Iran was another burden , our middle eastern allies were funding elsewhere though Fahd funded Afghan jehad perhaps to the tune of three billion dollars.
Zia was not antishia , rather he visited Tehran as part of Islamic Ummah Amn Committee to bring about peace which khomeni refused . Shia were as before in important positions but unlike yahya,sikander Mirza or Bhutto government this was not a shia dominated government , the strange thing is that though Bhutto could not survive , his party did . But Zia children could not benefit , as he did not allow his children any politicking and had his elder son kept employed outside the country .
Bringing down Bhutto was not easy , he had roots , his habit of not respecting dignity , property or even wives of his closest allies , whereas Zia was humility incorporated so changeover was quick .
A few words about PNA the so called pakistan national alliance , the nine party alliance which launched the historic resistance against Bhutto . Of them the hardliner were the jamaat islami, pagara , Asghar Khan and Naseem Wali Khan .Mufti Mahmood the father of Fazl was the chief and Balkh sher mazari , Nawabzada Nasrullah etc were its moderate leaders .
Mufti Mahmood died a few years later , Jamaat Islami and Nasrulah khan sent ministers to Zia Cabinet . Asghar Khan was offered PM ship but to solidify the offer he went to consult shah Iran and withdrew from PNA , Zia did not like this outside parley , so Asghar spent years in house arrest . Nasrullah changed course and started to look towards PPP dominated MRD , Fazl was enchanted, by Benazir , so with Junejo revolting and only JI left along with majlis Shura left to support Zia , the last problem was takeover of jamaat by Qazi who was an unwise leader and left Zia too.
By this time Zia had developed a personal lobby , when he died the crowd was 1.7 million at his funeral .
For many years owing to public interest in his yearly death anniversay , his sons and Nawaz Sharif , Chaudhary Shujaat Made a point to address this , even Babar Awan was once its stage secretary of the event . Then the dead was left to his grave and God and we were fed with songs of democracy and the grapes it will yield again as this wild fruit has some type new genetic version till Obama , hollande and British PM started to marry males with males.
Strangely enough the most rabid criticisers of Zia have shifted from so called semisocialist , leftist intellectuals, writers often Shias during his time to a broader breed brought up with no knowledge and not of sufficient age to know what really went on in 1977.
Qadianis could have a grudge against Bhutto and Zia both but what could national assembly do when they clearly acknowledged belief in an additional prophet and they also expressed the belief communicated by no less than their khalifa in parliamentary committee that they consider those not believing in that additional prophet as Not being Muslims.
Bhutto in his book puts blame on Qadianis too but of lahori faction as fecilitating his fall and interest in his death .
Zia had passed a law that forbid Qadianis to use symbols of Islam within the Islamic republic of Pakistan , but there was no additional persecution , they were still in army in high posts as per state regulations or seniority but no longer were they so important that people standing in elections in Sargodh area had to take support of their Khalifa if PPP ticket was to be awarded as happened in 1970 elections.
Though PPP PNA parleys were continuing but foreseeable was more conflict even if agreement could be reached on new elections . We the students were sitting at home for the previous four months and there was no end in sight . Army knew by that time that country's democracy is becoming a burden for the nation and law enforcing agencies.
Industrial production of the country went down by minus 2 % . BBC and Nawa e Waqt then a major newspaper supported the PNA ,Moscow Radio and Jang newspapers supported Bhutto
. Arab heads of state were tilted slightly towards Bhutto but country's religious right , the JUI ,JUP ,JI were against Bhutto , religious parties were not as weak then as now . Madrassa students would not budge from protests whatever the police brutality .
Bhutto,s workers were many but enthusiasm and dedication of religious right for whom the movement was about Tahrik Nizam Mustafa . This PNA agitation was the longest and the largest movement of the subcontinent after Pakistan movement itself till that time .
There was no functioning government in Pakistan when Zia took over , all what was left was strikes , murder on street by FSF , so called Muzakarat on radio , schools were closed for months , there was no future in sight for Pakistan . Bhutto had used up all tricks , he had killed 3000 on streets , 100000 arrests were made , it was almost fifth month of upheaval . Urban people of Punjab were antibhutto . Zia helped Bhutto by imposing martial law in three cities , but In Multan the protestors defied army ..The figures of deaths given above were submitted in High court Lahore by yahya Bakhtiar to defend imposition of martial law by Bhutto government .Finally Zia had to save Pakistan .
At stake was not just elections for likes of Nawabzada Nasrullah types and neither were the deaths being suffered for democracy and neither were the dead anybit parwanas of jumhuriat as some semi secular leaders of PNA who were in minority thought , this was a clash between the right and religious minded supported by sunni majority within country versus the shia supported Proliberalism and pro socialism PPP . It was about the future of Pakistan as a Muslim state versus its future as merely a state which Bhutto wanted .The second big clash was private enterprise minded versus public ownership of PPP,
The other side of the story can be read in Bhutto,s Book" If I am assassinated". Bhutto thought that Shah Iran and Ali Raza Abidi had some hand in it along with JI chief Tufail Muhammad . Bhutto by that time had annoyed so many people right and left and got eliminated so many opponents that no body disbeleived at the murder charge .
Whatever it was , though it was beginning not of a golden era but it era of sure progress under Zia , colleges opened , but Bhutto and PPP gave severe resistance , Indians and some western sought to use PPP even infiltrated it , colleges were again closed for both Bhutto's hanging and then for MRD resistance in 1981 . Bhutto saga wasted about 1 year of education of students every where .
MRD resistance with accompanying militarism in Sindh led to thought of organizing Urdu lot of hyderabad to counterbalance any seperatist tendencies this was beginning of idea of a strong Karachi party to counter sindh seperatists which PPP cover encouraged though GM Syed was superficially later on government side , Pagara cooperation with federation was helpful .
Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir wanted every ally they could get , several plots were hatched to kill Zia including one to use rocket at his plane , PPP leaders were not realizing at they are putting PPP open to Indian , Moscow agents .
Zia delivered the nation from uncertainty , they say he made preparations right under nose of Bhutto , Bhutto planned they say changing him next day ,but Zia struck first.
There were more press freedoms during Zia time than during Bhutto .
During Bhutto there was this defence of Pakistan rules any body who objected to Bhutto was put in jail .
This march of Pakistan to its original ideology continued till Junejo came as PM then politics ,heroin , bombs , Karachi violence started to arrive . Zia had to dismiss that silly Junejo , but real rollback of Pakistan ideology again started to occur with first Benazir and finally under Musharaf .Zia great achievement was that without sanctions , with noise , we got the bomb , till a UAE paper reported " How Zia fooled the world and got the bomb". His other great achievement was to stop the four centuries onward March on Muslim lands by Russia which despite power of Mughals and Request by Ottomans to Mughals to help Against Russia nobody gave .
Zia could not suceed in islamisation of laws as he could not fully fathom the vested interest of judiciary and police in Anglo Saxon law which gives them money and power which an Islamic system could not allow them . He overestimated the wisdom of clergy of Pakistan who could not motivate people and he faced opposition from liberals , minorities and shias who were not happy at loss of leading role in politics they played from Jinnah time onwards especially after sikander Mirza , as Mirza , Yahya, Gen. musa were all Shias .
Zia could not suceed for another reason , his senior generals were those who had started in British army where drinking and other western values were nurtured , his not been overthrown was itself a miracle . Junejo was a bad choice and whether Aslam Beg was good for him was doubtful .
Junejo instead of promoting muslim league gave immense leverage to Benazir just as Nawaz did for some time promote zardari .
By far the greatest headache was Afghan war , there was no more a friendly Shah in Iran , there were Mullahs in Iran who were not colluding with soviets publically but they were not helping Pakistan cause either. There was still no bomb and India under Desai was silent but ever watching . Reader digest described him as on tenterhooks . The stupid Attack of Iraq on Iran was another burden , our middle eastern allies were funding elsewhere though Fahd funded Afghan jehad perhaps to the tune of three billion dollars.
Zia was not antishia , rather he visited Tehran as part of Islamic Ummah Amn Committee to bring about peace which khomeni refused . Shia were as before in important positions but unlike yahya,sikander Mirza or Bhutto government this was not a shia dominated government , the strange thing is that though Bhutto could not survive , his party did . But Zia children could not benefit , as he did not allow his children any politicking and had his elder son kept employed outside the country .
Bringing down Bhutto was not easy , he had roots , his habit of not respecting dignity , property or even wives of his closest allies , whereas Zia was humility incorporated so changeover was quick .
A few words about PNA the so called pakistan national alliance , the nine party alliance which launched the historic resistance against Bhutto . Of them the hardliner were the jamaat islami, pagara , Asghar Khan and Naseem Wali Khan .Mufti Mahmood the father of Fazl was the chief and Balkh sher mazari , Nawabzada Nasrullah etc were its moderate leaders .
Mufti Mahmood died a few years later , Jamaat Islami and Nasrulah khan sent ministers to Zia Cabinet . Asghar Khan was offered PM ship but to solidify the offer he went to consult shah Iran and withdrew from PNA , Zia did not like this outside parley , so Asghar spent years in house arrest . Nasrullah changed course and started to look towards PPP dominated MRD , Fazl was enchanted, by Benazir , so with Junejo revolting and only JI left along with majlis Shura left to support Zia , the last problem was takeover of jamaat by Qazi who was an unwise leader and left Zia too.
By this time Zia had developed a personal lobby , when he died the crowd was 1.7 million at his funeral .
For many years owing to public interest in his yearly death anniversay , his sons and Nawaz Sharif , Chaudhary Shujaat Made a point to address this , even Babar Awan was once its stage secretary of the event . Then the dead was left to his grave and God and we were fed with songs of democracy and the grapes it will yield again as this wild fruit has some type new genetic version till Obama , hollande and British PM started to marry males with males.
Strangely enough the most rabid criticisers of Zia have shifted from so called semisocialist , leftist intellectuals, writers often Shias during his time to a broader breed brought up with no knowledge and not of sufficient age to know what really went on in 1977.
Qadianis could have a grudge against Bhutto and Zia both but what could national assembly do when they clearly acknowledged belief in an additional prophet and they also expressed the belief communicated by no less than their khalifa in parliamentary committee that they consider those not believing in that additional prophet as Not being Muslims.
Bhutto in his book puts blame on Qadianis too but of lahori faction as fecilitating his fall and interest in his death .
Zia had passed a law that forbid Qadianis to use symbols of Islam within the Islamic republic of Pakistan , but there was no additional persecution , they were still in army in high posts as per state regulations or seniority but no longer were they so important that people standing in elections in Sargodh area had to take support of their Khalifa if PPP ticket was to be awarded as happened in 1970 elections.
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