August 17 marked the 27th anniversary of the plane crash in which General Ziul Haq, along with several other top military officers, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief and the US ambassador to Pakistan were killed. In stark contrast to General Zia’s death anniversaries in the past, this year the occasion was virtually unnoticed and the late military dictator’s majestic mausoleum no longer draws the crowds that it used to. Those that eulogised Zia at his mausoleum on Monday were his last remaining admirers: his son Ijaz-ul-Haq and a few who had profited from his draconian rule over this country. Yet the fundamentalist elements that Zia either created or supported are very much alive and active today.
Zia came to power after staging a military coup, ousting Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and then having him sentenced to death. After he had taken control of the state, Zia cultivated a strong base of the religious right and silenced all dissenting voices with an iron fist in order to retain his grip on power. Thus he became the longest reigning President in the history of Pakistan, serving from 1977 till his death in 1988. The fundamentalist Islamic ideology that he propagated has pervaded every aspect of Pakistani society. Pakistan Studies and Islamiat were made compulsory subjects up to the university level. The Islamic laws that Zia instituted, such as the Hudood Ordinance that massively disenfranchises women and prevents them from seeking justice in cases of sexual abuse, have prevented Pakistan from becoming even remotely modern and have further endangered the already threatened religious minorities. He promoted the anti-Shia sentiment that snowballed into years of sectarian conflict and supported Sunni Muslim terrorist groups that target the religious minorities in Pakistan. For the favour and financial backing of the US, Zia promoted the growth of jihadi groups in Afghanistan, catalysing a chain of events leading to Afghanistan’s current instability. His foreign policy misadventures are not merely relics of the past; the repercussions of Zia’s interventions in foreign wars are still felt in Pakistan today. The terrorist groups that Zia laid the foundations for, both at home and abroad, have come back to haunt us and the country has been plagued with a security crisis and gruesome terrorist attacks for years. General Ziaul Haq may be long gone but his policies have played a significant role in shaping modern day Pakistan. The terrorists represent the far right of the spectrum of Islamists that Zia created. The fundamentalist narrative is now so deeply rooted in our society that it seems impossible to combat. And unfortunately, the counter-narratives are not strong enough to encourage a healthy debate that can lead the country out of darkness. *