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General Zia was appointed to his army position, over more senior officers, by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1976.
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General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, the chief of army staff, deposed Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a bloodless military coup on July 5, 1977. General Zia declared martial law and continually promised to hold elections but kept canceling them over the next few years, finally banning political parties and suspending voting indefinitely by late 1979. By then, Zia had named himself president and removed his main political rival, Bhutto, who was jailed and convicted on dubious charges of conspiracy to murder an opposition leader, and hanged in April 1979.
One of the hallmarks of General Zia's regime was the institution of legal codes that conformed to Islamic law and the establishment of the Federal Shariat Court. Under the hudud ordinances of these laws, which are still in effect today, rape and adultery are capital offenses, theft may result in the amputation of hands or feet, and flogging is prescribed for drunkenness or political crimes. Except for flogging, the draconian punishments have not been meted out or have been reduced on appeal. Interest-free banking and an alms tax were also instituted.
A nonparty general election was finally held in 1985, and subsequently, Zia exacted changes to the constitution (Eighth Amendment), giving greater power to the president and exempting his military regime from future prosecution; martial law was lifted in December 1985 and the amended constitution took effect. General Zia dismissed the parliament in mid-1988 and called for new elections in November of that year, but was killed in a plane crash on August 17, 1988.
photo: AP Photo
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