Comments on: Zia’s long shadow

By: Dr Rasheed S Azam

Dr Rasheed S Azam — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 11:42:35 +0000

Dictator zia is dead and gone. Pakistan has suffered the consequences of unislamic views and practice. It is high time to seriously think what is gone wrong. He played god and left behind ignorant mullas who are still playing gods. Islam is good and true but the true Islam of the Holy Prophet as rationally prescribed in the Holy Quran. Follow it as there is no compulsion in religion. A Muslim is one who says he is a Muslim but how he behaves should be left to God and not the mulla. ignorant mulla is the root of disease which must be cut. Do what Pasha did to mullas in Turkey!

By: Sandeep

Sandeep — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 11:20:45 +0000

Zia's rule changed the destiny of Pakistan.The foundation of terror laid down by Zia flourished and is threatening the country to a large extent.

By: Mani Iyer

Mani Iyer — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 07:32:33 +0000

Hi, You have the right and different view about zia by mentioning the cold war provided sheild to Zia ultimately suffering for ordinary positive thinking people like you. I too want to see pakistan which is outsourced to many foreign militants and still have direct support from military with free and liberal country. Many Pakistanis dont know how the public funds which have no accountability as for as Defence fund concerned swindled by army officers from Zia regime onwards . I have collected some news that from lower lever officers to top rank retired and current pakistan officers swallowed the public money than your politicians. If questioned by any pakistanis, army has its outsourced militants to take care of it. I much worried this also.

By: Rizwan

Rizwan — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 03:02:17 +0000

I totally agree with all the comments and consider Zia's era as one of the darkest period of history. He was a cunning person who helped USA in getting the Russian's out of Afghanistan by supporting mujahidin's not for Islam's sake or his own country's sake but to keep himself in the saddle and get financial aid in return. The financial aid was not used for development of the country but to give food, fertiliser and fuel subsidies; all this meant that a common man, who is not bothered about future but looks at his present well-being, to got food and items of his day to day use at affordable prices; as such the common man kept praising the President for keeping the inflation under control and for talking about Islam and his desire to move infidels ( Russians) out of Afghanistan. The critics and intellectuals in Pakistan could not get their thoughts across to others because of control over media and Press censorship ( only one Govt controlled TV station existed). Reportedly, a large amount of the financial aid also went into personal coffer's of a lot of Govt & armed forces officials. One particular incident of Zia's cunningness which I vividly remember is the day he was making a public speech ( probably in Abbottabad) when he told the gathering that the masses should impress upon the Prime-Minister ( Junejo) to have Nifaz-e Sharia in the country and if needed they should march to the Parliament in Islamabad and if they do so then he himself will join them. Nobody could dare ask him why did he not bring in the Sharia during his martial law rule when so many ordinances were issued and laws amended, he just wanted to project himself as an Islam loving person in the eyes of the tens of thousands of students of scores and scores of madrassah, funded through US aid, and founded by the regime and the poor illeterate masses. Although, it is not going to change anything by remembering his misdeeds but people should know what wrongs did he do in his 11 years rule when the other Asian countries moved forward, Pakistan's development remained virtually zero ( resultantly declined in following years as the other Asian countries became more industrialised and Pakistan's existing s industries lacking latest technologies lost out on their exports) . The lack of development was only felt when the aid stopped coming after the Russians were driven out ( USA's target had been achieved so they did not need to give any aid to Pakistan or Afghans living in Afghanistan or Afghan refugees in Pakistan), 4 million Afghans who had spread out over the entire country by now and with not financial aid coming to them resorted to criminal activities including smuggling and dacoity ( using the arms distributed by USA to Taliban); the smuggled arms also got into the hands of the Pakistani youth. With lesser food subsidies, Inflation rose, population was already on the rise and with no industrial development in Zia's decade of power, joblessness increased and things kept on deteriorating.
I can probably keep on writing on this subject as I graduated in Mechanical engineering in 1972 and was in my late twneties and thirties during the era and have seen deterioration in law and order situation after the Afghan war. How I wish that had USA spent a few tens of billion dollars in industrial development of Afghanistan after departure of Russians and building technical education institutes around the country and also helping Pakistan in resettling the 4 million refugees in Afghanistan, then not only Pakistan but probably the world would have been a safer place to live and the trillions of dollars gone into the subsequent Afghan war in post 9/11 period and into enhanced security systems in the world may not have been required——-In this regard I also recall reading somewhere, a long time back that Bin Ladin's main grievance against USA{ remember that he was with USA when fighting against Russians} was that USA left the war torn and impoverished Afghanistan on their own after it achieved its aim of ousting the Russians and this is the reason he is against them—-

By: Dani

Dani — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 23:05:43 +0000

Zia destroyed Pakistan, he's responsible for the current situation in Pakistan, he brought terrorism/extremism in the country. Zia is the worst thing ever happened to Pakistan.

By: GSB

GSB — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 19:27:29 +0000

Zia is one person who damaged Pakistan the most. He ruined the life of millions of people. He destroyed the country and the life of its people because of his lust for power. He hanged the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.

By: Omar B

Omar B — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 18:14:20 +0000

Blaming dead individuals for all that is wrong today seems rather convenient, Zia died in 1988…get over it

By: Al Moosa Athar

Al Moosa Athar — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:44:53 +0000

I absolutely agree. Zia must take the blame for most if not all the problems that Pakistan is faced with today. Unfortunately, Pakistan will not move forward until all the draconian laws of Zia's time are repealed and the country stops recycling the corrupt, self-serving politicians.

By: nirode mohanty

nirode mohanty — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:40:11 +0000

President Zia followed the Islamic law Shariah that Pakistan was created for Muslims to live in. Of course it is cruel and brutal when thousands use the blasphemy law to burn alive a mentally ill person, though he might be bigoted.

Can Pakistan abolish this law without blaming Zia when he is gone years back?

The burning of the Quran or defaming the prophet has caused several incidents around the world, though other religious people are not sensitive if their God is ridiculed and defamed. But it is hard to understand why a strong 1.3 billion Muslims feel threatened if someone desecrates their prophet or the holy book. In India, the killing of 60 passengers in the train had provoked the killing of innocent thousands. It is a religious killing and murder. This must be stopped with or without the blasphemy law.

By: BNS

BNS — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 13:46:22 +0000

Legacy is legacy. Good or bad, it is past. It is to learn lessons and make corrections. Yes, ZUH legacy proved to be bad but what did we do or are doing after him? Instead of undoing the damages we not only did but still are nurturing the same. This is not the correct way to make things better. We need to learn to learn from our past mistakes and not to repeat the same.