Oppression under the regime of General Zia-ul-Haq

Pakistan

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The Oppression under the Military Governmental regime of General Zia-ul-Haq, is a period in the Cold war context and the history of Pakistan in which the mass political and military repression occurred during the military regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq who gave the authorization of such political crimes to curbed the communist, secular, democratic socialist forces. On 5th July 1977 General Zia-ul-Haq the then-Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army overthrew the civilian and democratically elected government of Prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in a bloodless coup, codename —Operation Fair Play. After the imposition of martial law, the military dictatorial regime moved swiftly to thwart any opposition or prospective opposition. While the initial public response against the imposition of martial law was limited to lounges, the persecution and opposition increased in the run up to the conviction and execution of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Thereafter the opposition and simultaneously the persecution became more organized with the advent of Movement for Restoration of Democracy under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto.

The victims of persecution ranged from political activists to religious and ethnic minorities to communists, intellectuals, journalists, poets and many others. The tyranny and oppression can be divided into three phases.

Political victimization of politicians and workers

On Sept. 27 1982, by Martial Law Regulation 53, General Zia decreed, the death sentence as the prescribed punishment for "any offense liable to cause insecurity, fear or despondency amongst the public." Crimes punishable under this measure, which superseded civil law, included "any act with intent to impair the efficiency or impede the working" of, or cause damage to, public property or the smooth functioning of government. Another was abetting "in any manner whatsoever" the commission of such an offense, or failure to inform the police or army of the "whereabouts or any other information about such a person." Thus one was liable not merely for what one said or did but also for what one did not do. As if this were not enough jeopardy for citizens, Martial Law Order 53 reversed the most fundamental principle of justice - in Pakistan you were guilty until proved innocent. The law provided that "a military court on the basis of police or any other investigation alone may, unless the contrary is proved, presume that this accused has committed the offense charged." Amongst other provisions the decree it was stated "shall be deemed to have taken effect on July 5, 1977" -- the day General Zia overthrew his predecessor Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

During the 11 year regime of General Zia, international human rights groups repeatedly expressed concern over army's ruthless measures to suppress dissent. The Amnesty International, in a report released on 15 May 1978 expressed that, "We are very concerned at the use of flogging in Pakistan and are disturbed that this unusual punishment is also being inflicted on political prisoners for committing acts which often appear to be no more than exercise of the right of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed in the constitution. The first public hanging took place in March, after death sentences were passed by a military court on three civilians convicted for murder. At least 16 prisoners have so far been sentenced to floggings for political activities."

"Relatives, many of them teenagers, have in some cases been held temporarily as hostages until a wanted person was found. Bhutto's Attorney General, Yahya Bakhtiar was beaten up in his cell in Quetta jail this month: his family was given his bloodstained clothes for cleaning." Commenting on General Zia regime's repression the Economist said the army has been ruthless in its crackdown.

Further more a survey by the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists citing a report by the Lahore Bar Association,charged that "systematic torture" occurred in five Lahore prisons in 1984, particularly at a jail where many political detainees were held. Military courts are used increasingly to clear the backlog of cases in ordinary courts. The survey cited reports that the military courts decide cases in minutes and refuse defendants the rights to lawyers. Special military courts that try serious offenses allow defense counsel but the judges often obstruct the lawyers in their work," the survey said.

On 19 November 1985 the Amnesty International also accused the Zia regime of torturing and denying fair trials to political prisoners tried by special military courts. "As of September, more than 130 prisoners were serving sentences of between seven and 42 years after special military courts convicted them of political offenses or politically motivated criminal offenses. The military courts regularly use as evidence confessions extracted by torture while prisoners are hung upside down and beaten, given electric shocks, strapped to blocks of ice, deprived of food and sleep for two or three days and burned with cigarettes. Many prisoners are held in fetters and chains. People often are tried in courts held in closed session and denied the right of appeal to a higher court." The number of prisoners held without trial and shot on site was estimated to be ten-fold.

International Commission of Jurists again published a report on 7 September.1987 stating that "some human rights abuses continue in Pakistan, including alleged military attacks on villagers, despite the lifting of martial law 20 months ago." The ICJ report cited reports by villagers who said their villages were raided and looted by soldiers sometimes accompanied by local police. "Some male villagers were shot to death and women beaten, in at least two cases pregnant women, who subsequently miscarried." "Certainly, no defender of democracy or human rights is going to shed tears over General Zia's death," wrote the reputed Paris daily Le Monde on August 18, 1988.

An estimated 20,000 political workers were hunted down and executed during the regime where as thousands more fled around western Europe, the Middle East and United States to seek asylums.

Persecution of journalists

The victimization of journalist started with the imposition of ban on the publication of the Daily Musawaat (Urdu: مساوات ) which means equity. In response to the ban the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists came out openly against the regime. After the failure of efforts to convince the Martial Law authorities to lift the ban , the PFUJ launched a campaign of hunger strike in Karachi from December 1, 1977 and within eight days of the struggle in which journalists and press workers from all over the country participated, the government surrendered and lifted the ban. However, the government quickly resorted to its instincts and again took coercive actions against the dissenting press banning the daily " Musawaat", Lahore , and weeklies, like " Al-Fatah" and " Meyar" and others, which were critical of the Martial Law regime. The persecution of journalists by the Zia regime can be divided into two phases.

In the first phase of the crackdown by the regime in Lahore, the journalists and press workers who joined the hunger strike were arrested and sentenced under Martial Law Regulations for six months to one year rigorous imprisonment. These included three, who were ordered to be flogged, namely Khawar Naeem, Iqbal Jaferi Hashimi and Nasir Zaidi. The fourth, Masoodullah Khan was spared on the intervention of the doctor in view of Mr Masood's disability. It was during this stage that after having failed to suppress the movement for press freedom. the military regime picked up the four renegades from the PFUJ to create a parallel PFUJ, a pocket organization known as " Rashid Siddiqui Group", who was given full publicity on official media supported the government and it condemned PFUJ's struggle for press freedom exposing their true colours.

Religious persecution of Ahmadis

See also: Persecution of Ahmadiyya

General Zia-ul-Haq promulgated Ordinance XX on 26 April 1984, banning members of the Ahmadiyya community from performing their religious ceremonies and prayers.^[1] He declared "This Ordinance may be called the Anti-Islamic Activities of the Ahmadis (Prohibition and Punishment) Ordinance, 1984". Although in 1974 Pakistan's National Assembly under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's deal with Islamic parties declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims for the definition of the law.^[2] But it was not sufficient in stopping the missionary activities of the Ahmadiyya community. They found a great friend in General Zia-ul-Haq to further this cause to persecute the community more aggressively. The new laws were designed and used for persecution of the Ahmadis. Article 298-C of this law states "Any person of the Quadiani group or the Lahori group (who call themselves ‘Ahmadis’ or by any other name), who, directly or indirectly, poses himself as Muslim, or calls, or refers to, his faith as Islam, or preaches or propagates his faith, or invites others to accept his faith, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations, or in any manner whatsoever outrages the religious feelings of Muslims, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine." Thousands of cases were registered against Ahmadis. One such case even included the entire 35,000 population of an Ahmadiyya town on the behest of a religious clergy of a neighbouring town.^[3]

These laws forced the head of the Ahmadiyya community, Mirza Tahir Ahmad to migrate within days of this law to the United Kingdom in order to maintain contact and communication with his community, which was spread in about 100 countries at that time.^[4]

Thousands of Ahmadiyya community members fled Pakistan in the following years and sought refuge in many western countries. The current leader of Ahmadiyya community, Mirza Masroor Ahmad still resides outside Pakistan, as these laws still remain in effect.

The most famous Ahmadi who continued to live outside Pakistan during Zia's reign was Dr. Abdus Salam, who won Nobel prize in Physics in 1979.^[5] It was an embarrassing moment for General Zia who had ‘supplemented’ the second amendment to the constitution with further restrictions on Ahmadis. He had to welcome the great scientist in 1979, the only Pakistani Nobel laureate so far, and had to be seen with him on TV. Since the clerical part of his government was already bristling, he took care to clip those sections of Dr Salam’s speech where he had used Islamic expressions. It was Salam’s good luck that no one went to court under Zia’s own laws to get the country’s only Nobel laureate sent to prison for six months of rigorous imprisonment. Dr Salam later went to India and was received with great fanfare by the government of arch-rival of Pakistan. In fact Zia invited Dr Salam to Pakistan in 1979 after it was revealed to the Pakistani government that Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had invited him officially soon after being awarded the Nobel prize.^[6]

Gen Zia had to face more embarrassment when another historic figure of Pakistan History, Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, the first foreign minister of Pakistan who also holds the distinction to be the only Muslim to officiate as the judge in International Court of Justice, did not allow Gen Zia to enter his residence when he fell ill before eventually passing away. Gen Zia had to wait outside Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan's home as he met only with the Governor of Punjab.

References

1. ^ Pakistan Penal Code, Religious and Ahmadi-specific Laws
2. ^ Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, PART XII - Miscellaneous, Chapter 5. Interpretation, Article 260(3)
3. ^ The entire population of Rabwah, now renamed as Chenab Nagar, was charged under section PPC 298-C on 15-Dec-1989 here
4. ^ Excerpts from 'A Man of God' by Iain Adamson Review of Religions, pages 30-50, April 2003, Vol.98, No.4
5. ^ http://search.nobelprize.org/search/nobel/?q=salam&i=en
6. ^ Dr Salam's meeting with Zia