Zia: A Hero or a Villain?

None of us is in full picture of the facts, which enable us to give a conclusive answer, what to talk of pronounce a verdict. It is the the Almighty’s province to give such a verdict. We make our opinion only, based on empirical evidence, but the fact is opinions differ as each one interprets evidence differently. Accordingly, while many people may eulogize Zia as a “hero”, a “Shaheed”, a “champion of Islam” and a “Mujahid”, I am not particularly impressed by such exuberance for the guy whose actions are subject to serious questions. I don’t find myself motivated enough to celebrate individuals with such a questionable profile.
First and foremost, he was a dictator, simple and plain: there is no other title that better describes him. To make it even worse, he lacked legitimacy, constitutional, legal and moral. If we have not grossly misunderstood our religion, there is no place for such illegitimate ruler in Islam. This alone washes away much of the cosmetics loaded onto that grim-faced autocrat over the years by his admirers.
Secondly, he breached public trust and the oath that was administered to him: that he shall defend the constitution, a sacred contractual instrument of the millions of Pakistanis. To make it appear even uglier, he deceived and betrayed his own benefactor, the man who preferred him over several other generals, senior to him. What a remorseless unkind cut that was, coming as it did from an ungrateful subordinate against an unsuspecting or overconfident elected prime minister. 
Thirdly, he unscrupulously lied to the nation with impunity, by first promising to restore constitution, hold election and hand over power to the elected representatives of the people within 90 days. Those 90 days were conveniently consigned to oblivion as he stuck to power for more than a decade.
Fourthly, he exploited Islam and manipulated people’s religious sensibilities to prolong his power and gain some semblance of legitimacy. Islam is not a matter of imposition by a military dictator alone: it requires a comprehensive socio-political and ideological transformation through “Da’wah”, “Tableegh” and “Tarbiah”, on the lines envisioned and endeavored by Syed Maudoodi (RA). You cannot Islamize society and state by ordinances and executive orders alone. Obviously, his so called Islamization failed.
Fifthly, he was bound to take preemptive and offensive defense against the expansionist Soviets who together with India and Afghanistan posed immediate security threat to the very existence of Pakistan. It was not for the glory of Islam or Jihad that he fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan: it was sheer demand of real politics and a question of physical survival. Whether it was Bhutto, or Ayub, or Yahya, or Musharraf or someone else, as head of the state he had simply no other choice, given our checkered history till that time. With loads of Saudi Riyals and American military equipment, anyone heading Pakistan under those circumstances would be obliged to do what was more than obvious for any man of sanity to do.
Sixthly, he failed to foresee and plan for the negative fallout of his Afghan policy: narco-trade, Kalashnikov culture, religious extremism, ‘Islamic’ militancy, intolerance, sectarianism, war economy, misuse of FATA for proxy war-mongering, economic dependency on foreign loans/grants, rising defense spending, refugee problems.
Seventhly, his period witnessed the rise of MQM as a permanently festering wound. His establishment created this monster to counter-balance PPP but it also swept away JI from urban Sindh, perhaps never to regain its power at least in our lifetime. 
For all these and many more, I do not celebrate him as any hero at all. He was a general like Ayub and Musharraf, although each one used and misused different excuses. Ayub played with basic democracies to hoodwink people and gain legitimacy; Zia used Islam and Jihad to stay in power and show himself as a savior of Islam; Mush played with the alluring expression of “enlightened moderation”. The damage that each one of them caused to Pakistan is immeasurable and unpardonable. All of them deserve only one treatment: trial for high treason under article 6, and on being proved guilty, sentence to death by hanging, even if posthumous.

‎Elahi Karam