The 1971 war and separation of East-Pakistan demoralized and shattered the nation. President General Yahya Khan handed over the political power to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of the Pakistan Peoples Party. With PPP's coming to power, the democratic socialists and visionaries came to the power for the first time in the country's history, under a democratic transition. Bhutto made critical decision after dismissing chiefs of army, navyand the air force while authorized home confinement orders for General Yahya Khan and several of his collaborators. He adopted the East-Pakistan Commission's recommendations and authorized large-scale court-martial of army officers tainted for their role in East Pakistan. To keep the country united, Bhutto launched a series of internal intelligence operations to crack down on the fissiparous nationalist sentiments and movements in the provinces. Proponents of socialism were supported as part of the internal policies and the PPP faced serious challenges, both on internal and foreign fronts.
This period starting from 1971 until 1977 was a period of left-wing democracy, the growth of national spirit, economic nationalization, covert atomic bomb projects, promotion of scientific, literary, cultural activities and the left-wing socialism. Regarded as the period of reconstruction, rehabilitation, re-establishment, and the rise of the left-wing sphere of the country, the new industrial, manpower development, and the labour policies were promulgated in the ending weeks of December 1971. In 1972, the country's top intelligence services provided an assessment on Indian nuclear program, citing the evidences that: "India was close to developing a nuclear weapon under its nuclear programme". Chairing a secret winter seminar in January 1972, which came to be known as "Multan meeting", Bhutto rallied a large numbers academic scientists to build the atomic bomb for national survival. The atomic bomb project brought together a team of prominent academic scientists and engineers, headed by theoretical physicist Abdus Salam, to develop nuclear devices. Salam later won the Nobel Prize for Physics for developing the theory for unification of weak nuclear forces and strong electromagnetic forces.[93]
The PPP created the 1973 Constitution with the support of Islamists.[94] The Constitution declared Pakistan an Islamic Republic and Islam as the state religion. It also stated that all laws would have to be brought into accordance with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah and that no law repugnant to such injunctions could be enacted.[95] The 1973 Constitution also created certain institutions such as the Shariat Court and the Council of Islamic Ideology to channel the interpretation and application of Islam.[96]
In 1973 a serious nationalist rebellion also took place in Balochistan province and this led to the harsh suppression of Baloch rebels with the Shah of Iran purportedly assisting with air support in order to prevent the conflict from spilling over into Iranian Balochistan. The conflict ended later after an amnesty and subsequent stabilization by the provincial military administrator Rahimuddin Khan. Bhutto and his government carried out major reforms such as the establishment and development and re-designing of the country's infrastructure, the establishment of the Joint Chiefs Committee (as well Joint Strategic Forces Command), the reorganization of the military, special forces and chain of commands in the military. Steps were taken for democratization of civil bureaucracy, election commission and the political structure, expansion of country's economic and human infrastructure growth, starting first with the agriculture, land reforms, and government-control (nationalization) of major private industries, industrialization and the expansion of the higher education systemthroughout the country. In 1974, Bhutto succumbed to increasing pressure from religious parties and helped Parliament to declare the Ahmadiyya adherents as non-Muslims. Bhutto's efforts undermined and dismantled the private-sector and conservative approach for political power in country's political setup.
Relations with the United States gradually went down, and completing the gap after normalizing the relations with the Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc, North Korea, China, and the Arab world. With Soviet technical assistance, the country's first steel mill was established in Karachi, which proved to be a crucial step in industrializing the economy. Bhutto promised in a speech to Pakistan's National Assembly that "If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass and leaves, even go hungry. But we will get one of our own, we have no alternative." Alarmed by India's surprise nuclear test in 1974, Bhutto accelerated Pakistan's atomic bomb project.[97] This crash project reached a historical milestone in 1978 when the desired level of production of fissile core material was reached as well as first design of physics package which eventually led to a secret sub-critical testings ("Kirana-I" and "Test Kahuta") in 1983. Relations with India soured and Bhutto launched aggressive diplomatic war and measures against India at the United Nations. Openly targeting Indian nuclear programme on multiple occasions and pushing India on the defense, Bhutto's covertly worked on expanding the atomic bomb project on a shortest time possible.
From 1976 to 1977, Bhutto more densely emphasized his political position and faced an intense and heated diplomatic war with the United States and President Jimmy Carter, who worked covertly to damage the credibility of Bhutto in Pakistan. Bhutto, with his scientist colleague Aziz Ahmed, thwarted any U.S. attempts to infiltrate the atomic bomb programme. In 1976, during a secret mission, Henry Kissinger threatened Bhutto and his colleague using an inhumane language. After the meeting, Bhutto aggressively put efforts to successfully develop the atomic project before the coming elections.
As the country entered 1976, the socialist alliance of Bhutto collapsed, forcing his left-wing allies to form an alliance with right-wing conservatives and Islamists to challenge the power of the PPP. The Islamists started a Nizam-e-Mustafa movement[98] which demanded the establishment of an Islamic state in the country and removal of immorality from society. In an effort to meet the demands of Islamists, Bhutto banned the drinking and selling of wine by Muslims and also banned nightclubs and horse racing.[99]
In 1977, the general elections were held which marked the Peoples Party as victorious but this was challenged by the opposition, which accused Bhutto of rigging the election process. An intensified political disorder took place against Bhutto and Chief of Army Staff General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq took power in a bloodless coup. Following this, Bhutto and his leftist colleagues were dragged into a two-year-long controversial trial in Supreme Court. Bhutto was later executed in 1979, after being convicted of authorizing the murder of a political opponent, in a controversial 4–3 split decision by the Supreme Court.
1977–1988: Second military era[edit]
This period of military rule, lasting from 1977 to 1988, is often regarded as a period of great purge and growth of state-sponsored religious conservatism. Zia-ul-Haq committed himself to establishing an Islamic state and enforcing sharia law.[99] Zia established separate Shariat judicial courts[100] and court benches[101][102] to judge legal cases using Islamic doctrine.[103] New criminal offences (of adultery, fornication, and types of blasphemy), and new punishments (of whipping, amputation, and stoning to death), were added to Pakistani law. Interest payments for bank accounts were replaced by "profit and loss" payments. Zakat charitable donations became a 2.5% annual tax. School textbooks and libraries were overhauled to remove un-Islamic material.[104] Offices, schools, and factories were required to offer praying space.[105] Zia bolstered the influence of the ulama (Islamic clergy) and the Islamic parties,[103] whilst conservative scholars became fixtures on television.[105]10,000s of activists from the Jamaat-e-Islami party were appointed to government posts to ensure the continuation of his agenda after his passing.[99][103][106][107] Conservative ulama (Islamic scholars) were added to the Council of Islamic Ideology.[101] Separate electorates for Hindus and Christians were established in 1985 even though Christian and Hindu leaders complained that they felt excluded from the county's political process.[108]
Zia's state sponsored Islamization increased sectarian divisions in Pakistan between Sunnis and Shias (due to Zia's anti-Shia policies)[109] and also between Deobandis and Barelvis.[110] Zia-ul-Haq forged a strong alliance between the military and Deobandi institutions.[111] Possible motivations for the Islamization programme included Zia's personal piety (most accounts agree that he came from a religious family),[112] desire to gain political allies, to "fulfill Pakistan's raison d'être" as a Muslim state, and/or the political need to legitimise what was seen by some Pakistanis as his "repressive, un-representative martial law regime".[113]
Although President Zia's long eleven-year rule era features the country's first successful technocracy, but other side, it also features the tug of war between far-leftist forces in direct competition with populist far-right circles. President Zia made strong use of installing high-profile military officers from joint services of joint forces in civilian posts, ranging from central government to provisional governments. Gradually, the socialist influence in the public policies were dismantled disbanded, instead a new system of capitalism was revived with the introduction of corporatization and Islamization. The populist front against Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto scattered, with far right-wing conservatives allying with General Zia's government and encouraging the military government crack down on the pro-Soviet left-wing elements in the country. The left-wing alliance led by Benazir Bhutto was brutalized by Zia who took every mean of aggressive measures against the movement. Further, in his time, secessionist uprisings in Balochistan were put down successfully by the provincial governor, General Rahimuddin Khan. In 1984, Zia held a referendum asking the civil society for the support of his religious programme that received overwhelming support and extended the term of General Zia as country's administrator for next five years.
After Zia assuming power, Pakistan's relations with the Soviet Union deteriorated after Zia renewed strong relations with the United States, whilst accelerated the atomic bomb projects to counter the Soviet communism. Repressive situation in Communist Afghanistan invited the Soviet Union's intervention and President Reagan immediately jumped to help Zia to supply and finance an anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan, using Pakistan as a conduit. Zia's military administration effectively handled national security matters and notably managed the multibillion-dollar aid from the United States. Millions of Afghan refugees poured into the country, fleeing the Soviet occupation and atrocities (some estimate that the Soviet troops killed up to 2 million Afghans[114]and raped many Afghan women).[115] During this time, it was the largest refugee population in the world,[116] which had a heavy impact on Pakistan.
Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province became a base for the anti-Soviet Afghan fighters, with the province's influential Deobandi ulama playing a significant role in encouraging and organising the 'jihad' against the Soviet forces.[117] In retaliation, the Afghan secret police, KHAD, mastered the idea of "terrorism" after carrying out a large number of terrorist operations against Pakistan, which also suffered from an influx of illegal weapons and drugs from Afghanistan. Responding to the terrorism, Zia used "counter-terrorism" tactics after allowing the religiously far-right parties to send thousands of young students from clerical schools to participate in the Afghan Jihad against the Soviet Union.
Problems with India rose up when India attacked and took the Siachen glacier, prompting Pakistan to strike back, leading Indian Army to formalize a controversial military exercise, summoning up to 400,000 troops near Southern Pakistan. Facing an indirect war with the Soviet Union in West, General Zia used the Cricket diplomacy to lessen the tensions between two countries. However he also reportedly threatened India by adding to Rajiv Gandhi: "If your [forces] crossed our border an inch ... We are going to annihilate your (cities) ...".[118]
Under pressure by President Ronald Reagan, General Zia finally lifted martial law in 1985, holding non-partisan elections and handpicking Muhammad Khan Junejo to be the new Prime Minister, who readily extended Zia's term as Chief of Army Staff until 1990. Junejo however gradually fell out with Zia as his administrative independence grew; for instance, Junejo signed the Geneva Accord, which Zia greatly frowned upon. As retaliation, a controversy was planned after a large-scale blast at a munitions dump and Prime minister Junejo vowed to bring to justice those responsible for the significant damage caused, implicating several senior generals. In return, General Zia dismissed the Junejo government on several charges in May 1988 and called for elections in November 1988. However, before the elections could ever take place, General Zia died in a mysterious plane crash on 17 August 1988 (See Death of Zia-ul-Haq).
According to Shajeel Zaidi a million people attended Zia ul Haq's funeral because he had given them what they wanted: more religion.[119] A PEW opinion poll found that 84% of Pakistanis favoured making Sharia the official law of the land.[120] Conversely, towards the end of Zia's regime, there was a popular wave of cultural change in the country.[121]Despite Zia's tough rhetoric against the Western culture and music in the country, the underground rock music jolted the country and revived the cultural counter-attack on the Indian film industry.[121] The 1980s fashion such as hairstyles and clothing was very popular in the country and on casual basis at the five-star hotels in the country and near the residence of President Zia-ul-Haq, the rock bands performed Western-influenced rock music, and generally were welcomed by the public and some government elements.[121]
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