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PERSPECTIVE Maleeha Lodhi is a former Pakistani envoy to the US
India-Pak relations are at an all-time low
3rd Jan
and UK.
MALEEHA LODHI
www.sunday-

Twitter Security is top of Pak’s national agenda
20th Dec
guardian.com/profile/maleeha-lodhi
 Ghani visit energises Pak-Afghan ties

Zia’s tenure fragmented Pak society Share


6th Dec

The world faces a leadership crisis

The economy is in ruins and state institutions are weaker than ever.  Burdened by geography, Pakistan feels encircled
8th Nov
General Zia ul Haq

ugust marked the 25th death anniversary of Pakistan's longest serving ruler,

General Zia ul Haq. A quarter of a century after his death in an air crash, Zia's

troublesome legacy survives in many ways. His era was arguably the most

consequential for Pakistan's subsequent history and political fortunes. The

policies and governance habits formed in that decade were to have an enduring

impact on the country's political and economic dynamics for years to come. Many

imposing challenges Pakistan faces today are either rooted in that era or were

compounded during those years.

General Zia would not have survived in power for so long (1977-1988) if he hadn't

been such a wily manipulator. He used the polarisation between Zulfikar Ali

Bhutto's supporters and opponents to divide political forces. This cleavage paved

the way for the 1977 military coup. He leveraged Western support for his

"frontline" role in fighting Soviet occupation of Afghanistan to consolidate his

domestic position.

He used a combination of coercion and swift changes of course to keep his

political opponents off balance, and allowed himself to be underestimated to

orchestrate the execution of the country's first popularly elected Prime Minister.

Four key aspects of Zia's rule had long-term consequences for the country — all of
them deleterious. First, the combination of external and internal policies he

pursued led to the rise of religious extremism in the country. Although the

influence of religion in national politics had ebbed and flowed after

Independence, in the country's first three decades the affairs of state were

generally kept insulated from religion. This changed under General Zia when he

embarked on a self-assigned mission to islamise the country.

Zia fused politics and religion in using Islam to legitimise his rule. Among its

repercussions were to divide society along religious and sectarian lines.

Combined with the effects of the long Afghan War, these policies spawned

religious radicalisation and saw the birth of militant groups, some of which were

used to advance foreign policy goals.

Under Zia, Pakistan's long engagement in the US-led campaign to roll back the

Red Army from Afghanistan mired the country in a war of unintended

consequences from which the country and the region was to reap a bitter harvest.

The most consequential strategic mistake was to use religion to fight

communism. This produced the blowback of militant radicalisation that came to

destabilise Pakistan itself.

The second aspect of Zia's legacy relates to his disastrous economic management

in which the country's chronic fiscal crises and indebtedness are rooted. Annual

GDP growth averaged 6% in the 1980s. But this growth rate was achieved by

running down physical and social assets and by high levels of borrowing.

The profligacy and fiscal indiscipline practised by the regime's economic

managers touched new heights when, in 1984-85, current expenditure exceeded

total revenue. This was a turning point in the country's budgetary history.

Unwilling to broaden the tax base or curb spending, the regime began to borrow

excessively to finance not only development but also current expenditure or

consumption. The seeds of the twin deficits of the budget and balance of

payments were planted during the Zia era.

The third pernicious aspect of Zia's legacy was the political and institutional

erosion wrought by the country's longest period of martial law. His 11 years in

power left Pakistan institutionally impoverished, and undermined the foundation

of later democratic rule. The prolonged prohibition of political activity, ban on

political parties, assault on the judiciary, restrictions on press and academic

institutions in an increasingly fragmented society made governance a formidable

challenge in the post-Zia era.

The fourth key aspect of Zia's legacy relates to consequences that ensued from his

policies of depoliticisation and parochialisation. This meant several things. As

historian Ayesha Jalal has convincingly demonstrated "parochialising politics"

involved encouraging the articulation of public demands in ethnic or localised

terms. This was accompanied by efforts to spawn or strengthen countervailing

political, ethnic and religious groups to undercut support for opposition parties.

These actions inhibited national politics and fostered parochial trends that

further fragmented society.

Supporters and political heirs of President Zia often point to economic growth

and political stability as the ostensible achievements of his years in power. But

that claim is belied by an economy left in ruins, a more violent and fragmented

society and state institutions with much weaker capacity to govern than ever

before.

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