MUHAMMAD ZIA-UL-HAQ,THE RULER OF PAKISTAN DIED IN PLANE ACCIDENT ON 17 AUGUST 1988

MUHAMMAD ZIA-UL-HAQ,THE RULER OF PAKISTAN  DIED IN PLANE ACCIDENT

ON 17 AUGUST 1988

"Sharization" or "Islamisation" (Urdu: محمد ضیاء الحق کے اسلامی حکمرانی) was the "primary" policy,[1] or "centerpiece"[2] of the government of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the ruler of Pakistan from 1977 until his death in 1988. Zia has also been called "the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center for political Islam".[3]

Pakistan had been founded as a separate Muslim-majority state for India. Zia committing himself to enforcing his interpretation of Nizam-e-Mustafa ("Rule of the prophet" Muhammad), i.e. establish an Islamic state and sharia law.[4]

Zia established separate "Shariat" courts and court benches[5][6] to judge legal cases using Islamic doctrine.[7] New criminal offenses (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.[8]

 Offices, schools, and factories were required to offer praying space.[9] Zia bolstered the influence of the ulama (Islamic clergy) and the Islamic parties,[7] 

conservative scholars became fixtures on television.[9] 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.[4][7]

[10][11] Conservative ulama (Islamic scholars) were added to the Council of Islamic Ideology.[5]

Religious Offences and Punishments[edit]

PPC	Description	Penalty
298	Uttering of any word or making any sound or making any gesture or placing of any object in the sight with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person.	1 years imprisonment, or fine, or both
298A	Use of derogatory remarks etc., in respect of holy personages. (1980)	3 years imprisonment, or with fine, or with both[53]
298B	(Ahmadi blasphemy law) Misuse of epithets, descriptions and titles etc., reserved for certain holy personages or places, by Ahmadis. (26 April 1984[54])	3 years imprisonment and fine
298C	(Ahmadi blasphemy law) Aka Ordinance XX: An Ahmadi, calling himself a Muslim, or preaching or propagating his faith, or outraging the religious feelings of Muslims, or posing himself as a Muslim. (26 April 1984[54])	3 years imprisonment and fine
295	Injuring or defiling places of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class	Up to 2 years imprisonment or with fine, or with both
295A	Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. (1927)[55]	Up to 10 years imprisonment, or with fine, or with both
295B	Defiling, etc., of Quran. (1982)[56]	Imprisonment for life[53]
295C	Use of derogatory remarks, spoken, written, directly or indirectly, etc. to defile the name of Muhammad. (1986)	Mandatory Death and fine[53][57] (Feb. 1990[58])

The State funeral of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was held on 19 August 1988 in Shah Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan. General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was the President of Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) at the time of his death and died in a mysterious C-130 Hercules plane crash on 17 August 1988. 

Several conspiracy theories exist regarding this incident, as other high-profile civilian and military personnel also died in the crash including the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Akhtar Abdur Rehman and the United States Ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Lewis Raphel.

Zia's death was officially announced by Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan simultaneously via Pakistani radio and television on 17 August 1988. Zia-ul-Haq was given a state funeral and buried in a specially crafted white marble tomb, adjacent to Shah Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. Khan, Zia's successor as president, also managed Zia-ul-

Haq's funeral.

The funeral was attended by key American politicians, U.S. Embassy staff in Islamabad, key personnel of the Pakistan Armed Forces, and chiefs of staff of the Pakistani Army, Navy, Air Force and 30 heads of state, including the presidents of China, Bangladesh, Iran, Turkey, India, the Aga Khan, representatives of the crowned heads of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.

Investigation[edit]

Washington sent a team of United States Air Force officers to assist the Pakistanis in the investigation, but the two sides reached sharply different conclusions.

U.S. conclusions[edit]

Mrs. Ely-Raphel and Brigadier-General Wassom's widow were both told by U.S. investigators that the crash had been caused by a mechanical problem common with the C-130, and that a similar incident had occurred to a C-130 in Colorado which had narrowly avoided crashing.

Robert Oakley, who replaced Arnold Raphel as U.S. ambassador following the crash and helped to handle the investigation, has also expressed this view. He has pointed out that 20 or 30 C-130s have suffered similar incidents. 

He has identified the mechanical fault as a problem with the hydraulics in the tail assembly. Although USAF pilots had handled similar emergencies, the Pakistani pilots were less well equipped to do so, lacking C-130 experience and also flying low.[1]

Pakistani conclusions[edit]

Some weeks after the crash, a 27-page summary of a secret 365-page report was released by Pakistani investigators in which they said that they had found evidence of possible problems with the aircraft's elevator booster package, as well as frayed or snapped control cables. 

Analysis by a U.S. lab found "extensive contamination" by brass and aluminium particles in the elevator booster package, but the report said "failure of the elevator control system due to a mechanical failure...is ruled out". It cited the aircraft-maker Lockheed as saying that "even with the level of contamination found in the system, they have not normally experienced any problems other than wear".[1]

The report concluded that the contamination of the elevator booster package might at worst have caused sluggish controls leading to overcontrol but not to an accident. In the absence of a mechanical cause, the Pakistani inquiry concluded that the crash was due to an act of sabotage. 

They found no conclusive evidence of an explosion on the aircraft, but said that chemicals that could be used in small explosives were detected in mango seeds and a piece of rope found on the aircraft. They also added that "the use of a chemical agent to incapacitate the pilots and thus perpetuate the accident therefore remains a distinct possibility".[1]

Journalistic investigation[edit]

Journalist and author Mohammed Hanif, who became head of Urdu-language service at BBC, told American journalist Dexter Finkins that while working in