Notwithstanding the violent political events in KPK in the early years of our independence or the agitated demonstrations of Bengalis on the question of language or the violent uprising of Baloch against the Federal authority in 1948 and in the mid-1950s, there was no known terrorist group operating on our land. We came to hear of fire crackers and bomb blasts in the first government of the PPP in the mid-1970s particularly after the dismissal of the National Awami Party Government in Balochistan and the subsequent use of force to suppress the insurgency in the two regions inhabited by Marri and Mengal tribes. By the time, Sardar Daud had deposed his brother-in-law, King Zahir Shah, and declared Afghanistan a Republic. He was harboring some NAP leaders. He revived the slogan of Greater Pakhtunistan and the controversial question of Durand Line. Some of his opponents including the young Engineer Gulbadin Hikmatyar, Abdul Haq Haqqani and Ahmed Masood had crossed over the border and took refuge in Pakistan. Since Sardar Daud was extending all help to the Baloch insurgents, the Bhutto regime retaliated by patronizing these Afghan activists. This was the time we witnessed acts of violence and sabotage in Balochistan and KPK. We lost the veteran Pakhtun nationalist, Khan Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai of Balochistan, and the young Chief Minister of KPK, Hayat Muhammad Sherpao, in bomb blasts. There were a few events of political violence or attacks on political gatherings causing loss of life and property. Two politicians, Dr. Nazir Ahmed of Jamaat Islami and Khwaja Rafiq Ahmad of Muslim League, were murdered. However, these were isolated events and did not reflect any evolving form of organized terrorism. Bhutto’s popular politics and his liberal and socialist political discourse had scared the traditionally powerful political dynasties and the religious political parties. They were all ganging together to oust him from power. Their activities were within the bounds of law and did not smack of any violent opposition. Bhutto too indulged in the traditional strong arm politics, arresting and jailing opponents on flimsy grounds. They included prominent politicians. This was all part of the political game played out in the country between Bhutto and his political foes. The elected government of Z.A. Bhutto was overthrown by his handpicked General Zia ul Haq in a bloodless coup in July 1977. The General resorted to en mass arrest of the political activists belonging to the National Student Federation, the People’s Student Federation and the Pakistan People’s Party. He also targeted the nationalist parties and groups; purged higher educational institutes of socialists and secularists; weakened student and labour unions; extended state patronage to the Islamists and Islamic political parties. Thus, the society was politically polarized and ideologically divided. The minority Shias organized themselves into structured groups to resist the imposition of Islamic codes on them against their avowed jurisprudence specially the enforcement of the Zakat ordinance The mock trial of Bhutto and his execution further aggravated the political polarization and triggered violent resistance to Zia rule to avenge the death of Bhutto. The creation of Al-Zulfiqar and its involvement in the violent murder of Chaudhry Zahoor Illahi and the wounding of Justice Moulvi Mushtaq Hussain; the successive attempts on the life of General Zia; the hijacking of the PIA plane and the murder of a young Pakistani diplomat were the unfortunate outcome of this political polarization. The subsequent violent MRD movement in which the Sindhi nationalists fought pitched battles with the security forces in the small towns of Sindh in 1984 went a long way to change the political culture of the country. Within the first five years of his rule, General Zia built the rightist forces of the country into formidable centers of power through state patronage. The process of Islamization under the guidance of Salafi Ulema alienated Braveli Sunnis and Shias. The minority Shias organized themselves intostructured groups to resist the imposition of Islamic codes on them against their avowed jurisprudence specially the enforcement of the Zakat ordinance. Following the agitation of Shias against Zakat, the Jhang of Sultan Bahoo was transformed into a stronghold of militancy. We saw the birth of the sectarian militant group, Sippah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which, over two decades, spawned into numerous militant groups of greater size and power operating from all the provinces of the country. Thus, within a short span of three years, the General was successful in laying the foundation of political violence and sectarian intolerance and religious militancy in the country which would haunt the nation as his legacy. Whilst all this was going on in our country, the General grabbed another opportunity to break out of the isolation caused by his unconstitutional rule, the judicial murder of Bhutto and his regressive policies. This opportunity was provided to him by the violent Saur Revolution in Afghanistan overthrowing Sardar Daud and bringing into power Noor Muhammad Taraki of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The Saur Revolution struck the ultra-conservative and dogmatic Afghan society as a thunderbolt and caused many religious political leaders and a large Afghan population to flee to Pakistan. Almost 5 million Afghanis crossed over to Pakistan to take refuge on our land. The Saur Revolution turned more violent in the aftermath of the successive violent overthrow of Taraki and Hafizullah Amin. The Soviet leaders were finally compelled to roll their tanks into this rugged country to install another protégé, Babrak Karmel, in Kabul. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan came as a Godsend opportunity for the Western world to settle their score with the Soviet Union. Thus, we came to witness the spectacle of the first Afghan war after the Great Game. The USA, its Western and Gulf allies needed the help of Pakistan to organize guerilla warfare against the Soviet forces. We became the willing partners in this Afghan war turning our country into a rentier state with General Zia presiding over it and masquerading as the liberator of a Muslim country. The military leaders were riveted by the shine of weapons and dollars. Nobody had time to think of the long term consequences of this mindless adventure. The writer was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books