Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization

On December 2, 1978, on the occasion of the first day of the Hijra calendar to enforce the Islamic system in Pakistan in a nationwide address, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq accused politicians of exploiting the name of Islam saying:

Qisas and Diyat Ordinance 1990

With the passing of the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance in 1990, the victim (or heirs of the victim) of a crime now have the right to inflict injuries on the offender identical to the ones sustained by the victim. The law also allows offenders to absolve themselves of the crime by paying compensation to the victim or their heirs. In the already existing system of bribery and corruption, it gives free hand to the people with money. The Human Rights activists say that in effect this means, that rich people can get away with willful murder.

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Conclusion

The Islamization process, which was used as a political weapon, has caused severe damage to Pakistani life. Wrong interpretation of Islam has resulted in the rise of fundamentalism, obscurantism and retrogression. Since the death of General Zia, inconsistency and instability prevails in Pakistani laws.

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Instability means that the law is frequently changing or is under threat of change because of differences of opinion among the ruling factions. Three of the most obvious inconsistencies in Zia's Islamic law are :

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• Those between legal norms and socially observed norms;
• Those between statutory legal norms and the norms applied in practice in the courts (e.g. Hadd is difficult to implement as confession, retraction of confession and strict standards of proof make it difficult to execute);
• Those between different formal legal norms (e.g. non-compliance with the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance is compromised by the courts but is strictly punished under the Zina Ordinance). Another example of this contradiction is that the constitution assures women equal status on the one hand but, on the other hand, they are greatly discriminated in criminal law.

Sectarianism

Islam, which should have served to unite the people of Pakistan (as over 90% of them are Muslims),has been, and is being, misused to divide them into mutually hostile sectarian groups and to divert their attention from basic social and economic problems.

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This division arose during the 1980s when Shi'ite extremists recieved support from Fundamentalist Iran leading to violent attacks on many Sunni Muslims at the time which prompted Zia-ul-Haq and ISI Director General Akhtar Abdur Rehman to keep a close watch on the activities of Shi'ite Islamic groups and code named them as Khatmal (Bed Bugs).

Related Topics:
Iran - ISI - Akhtar Abdur Rehman

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The myth of popular support for religious parties has repeatedly been exploded by the electorate untill now.Religious parties have been able to establish a provincial government in 2002 elections which never happened before and sectarian and religious hate mongers have proliferated. Major parties are courting leaders of religious parties, while latter's militias continue fanning the flames of sectarianism.

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