Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq was Pakistan’s longest-serving head of state, ruling from 1977 to 1988.  Appointed Chief of Army Staff in March 1976, GeneralZia-ul-Haq came to power after he overthrew civilian government following widespread civil disorder in a bloodless coup on July 5, 1977. General Zia-ul-Haqassumed the post of President of Pakistan in September 1978 which he held till his tragic death in a sabotage-induced aircraft crash on August 17, 1988.

PresidentZia-ul-Haq presided over the nation’s destiny for over eleven years, having come to the fledgling state of Pakistan in 1947, the year its borders were carved in the blood of Partition, and leaving it in the uniform of its Army Chief, sacrificing his life in its course in 1988.

His tenure witnessed the initiation of Islamic law, the peaceful disbanding of a secession-threatening insurgency in Balochistan, as well as his premier domestic achievement; the rejuvenation of a previously crippled economy.

GeneralZia-ul-Haq injected renewed spirit and strength into the Organization of Islamic Conference and led a determined move to ensure Egypt’s re-entry to its folds. He played a key role in ending Iran-Iraq conflict. Pakistan despite being a close ally of the US and NOT enjoying ideal relations with Libya and Iran, he chose to unequivocally condemn US attitude towards both these Muslim Countries

What immortalizes Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq the man, however, is a world feat; engineering the victory of neighboring Afghanistan over an aggressing superpower, the Soviet Union.  Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the end of Détente, he was instrumental in mobilizing international financial and military aid for Afghan resistance against Soviet occupation. Without the key involvement of Zia-ul-Haq’s Pakistan, a permanent Russian military withdrawal would still have no precedent in history.

His death in a sabotage-induced aircraft crash on August 17, 1988 remains among the most tragic and contentious episodes in the political history of the late twentieth century. Nevertheless, it imparted Zia-ul-Haq with Islam’s most sacred honor; that of Shahadat. Even in death, he was buried at Islamabad’s Shah Faisal Mosque, the world’s largest mosque at the time, in the most widely attended funeral witnessed by Pakistan, with millions paying their respects.

 A board of enquiry concluded that the cause of the air crash was a criminal act of sabotage perpetrated in the aircraft. It remains a sad fact that the succeeding government lapsed in its duty to investigate a crime of tremendous proportions.

Despite this, Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, the soldier that fought valiantly in wars at home and safeguarded the Jordanian throne abroad, the statesman who overcame the Soviet juggernaut, the custodian of the nation who brought back economic prosperity and nationalist dignity, and above all the Muslim man who journeyed to the great state of Pakistan seeking Jinnah’s dream, remains an icon of indisputable Muslim leadership to a troubled world today.