CSS 2015 Solved Pakistan Affairs Past Papers | Islamization during Zia Era: A Political Propaganda
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Question Breakdown
The question demands the clarification of the socio-political background of Zia-ul-Haq’s rule and the circumstances that led to the Islamization processes. It requires the policies that were put into practice at this time were necessary to create the image of Pakistan as a truly Islamic state, or whether this agenda served as a useful political tool for Zia.
Outline
1-Introduction
2-The Zia-ul-Haq Regime and Vision of Islamization
3-Zia Regime and Islamization as a Political Propaganda
- ✓Legitimization of Political Power using Islam as a Shield
- ✓Strategic Alignments during Soviet-Afghan War
- ✓Hudood Ordinances and Institutionalization of Islam to weaken opposition
- ✓Media used as a tool to intentionally mobilize public perceptions
- ✓Introduction of Islamic Economic Reforms
4- Antithesis; Was Islamization a need for Pakistan?
- ✓Capitalization of post-independence Public desire of Pakistan as an Islamic State
- ✓Islamic strictness on Corruption, Crime and other social moral decays, becomes a need
- ✓Public demand for Shariah Implementation.
5-Critical Analysis
6-Conclusion
Introduction
The Islamization under Zia-ul-Haq was a genuine effort to meet the public need for an Islamic code of laws as well as a political showmanship, which was aimed at canvassing for his rule. On one hand, there was a segment of the population, who expected an Islamic system of governance as a panacea for social turmoil, corruption and economic meltdown after the year 1971. The reforms that have occurred, which include the Hudood Ordinances, Islamic banking and other reforms, are seen as a way of making the nation match its dimensions and bring justice to people. The opposition however, claims that Zia has primarily used Islamic religion to phenomenon his political might, but also to quell any rebellion. While Islam was used to mobilize the people in support of a certain agenda it was also used to demobilize people of any resistance and deal with the political climate with incredible finesse. While Islamization did resonate with a particular segment of the population, it was also used to extend Zia’s political control. Perversely enough, this has the opposite effect of masking the location of latent political self-interest which is intermingled with a whole pursuit of the public good.
The Zia-ul-Haq Regime and Vision of Islamization
The Zia-ul-Haq’s period (1977–1988) represents an important phase of Pakistan when dominating processes of the Islamization of society, state, and legal system occurred. Zia united in power through a coup of martial law, overthrowing the elected Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Regardless of the capacity that he had occupied, his vision was geared towards making Pakistan an Islamic country, which he believed was the only identity that Pakistan had to go for. A postmodern analysis of Zia’s Islamization policies found that it wanted to introduce Islamic values into people’s lifestyle. It included the Hudood Ordinances, the Qisas and Diyat laws and the Shariat Courts. These remedies were intended to enforce penalty and regulation propagated by Islamic law and received much discussion on what is right and wrong, or proper enforcement. Education became one of the major tools of bringing change according to Zia. Some education texts were rewritten and the subject of Islamic studies was introduced into the curriculum. The Zakat and Ushr Ordinance legalized religious taxes by supporting welfare projects through deductions. During Afghan Jihad, Zia managed to synchronize his vision with the foreign policy of Pakistan. During his rule, Pakistan emerged as a key supporter of the Afghan Mujahideen against Soviet intervention, it received foreign assistance and further strengthened its Islamic cause. However, these policies also contributed to the degeneration of extremism. The fact that Islam was used as a political tool by him is not yet clear. Whereas some argue that Zia’s policies were to respond to Pakistan’s original ideological ideal, but the other opinion is that he wanted to justify the autocratic regime, which created bitterness to some extent and left institutionalization. To this critics have pointed out that during his reign there was actually the decentralization of power and privatization. Zia’s contribution to the state of Pakistan specifically focuses on the religion, law and politics interface and comprises a legacy of fluctuations and disturbance.
Zia Regime and Islamization as a Political Propaganda
- ✓Legitimization of Political Power using Islam as a Shield
General Zia-ul-Haq adopted Islam as an operational dependency of his rule, after seizing power in 1977 through a military coup. Under severe condemnation for overthrowing a democratically elected government, Zia tried to paint his new order as Pakistan’s true Islamic spirit. Through the endorsement of his policies by religious principles, he was able to cocoon himself with Islamic principles that helped him pull down any resistance to his regime. Among the first of these measures was Nizam-e-Islam, creating an impression that his reign had the essence of divinity. His government planned to make Pakistan a real Islamic state in continuation of the Two-Nation Theory. This narrative was well received by parts of the population, with denominating segments within a society that is prone to religious callings. Religious symbolism made Zia firmer politically to overcome the challenges. He used the slogan “Pakistan ka matlab kiya?, La ilaha illallah” in the political campaigns. By employing Islamic elements in the foreign policy, his regime was also put to legitimize. Recruiting to the Afghan Jihad, Zia placed Pakistan into the mainstream of the worldwide Islamic struggle against oppression represented by Soviet influence. In this way, Zia effectively employed Islam as a political resource, firstly, to provide himself and his regime with a social base and secondly, to turn Islamic discourse to his own advantage in order to justify his authoritarian rule to the Pakistani people, since he never had enjoyed the open support of the populace by way of a genuinely democratic mandate. Nonetheless, critics criticize that this process led to a mix of relativity and politics, which became the basis for the political misuse of Islam in Pakistan.
- ✓Strategic Alignments during Soviet-Afghan War
The Soviet Afghan War (1979–1989), emerged as an important period becoming a turning point when he used the geopolitical trump card, Pakistan and its Islamic recognition to strengthen his regime, both at home and globally. Zia linked Pakistan with the US and Saudi Arabia to fight soviet aggression, he equated the fight with communism as ‘jihad’ against infidel communism to defend the Islamic world from godless communists. It became a basic tenet of his political platform, his government presented itself as a defender of Islam and Muslims around the world. The Afghan resistance was propagandized by Zia as a religious crusade and hence the word Jihad was given prominence. Pakistan acted as a training, logistical and support base for Afghan mujahideen with billions of dollars in aid as a support from the USA and Saudi Arabia. The USA CIA and Saudi intelligence provided the means, i.e. arms and finance, to Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), consolidating Ziaul Haq’s dictatorial leverage on the regional political map. At home, Zia capitalized on this alignment to further immunize his Islamic script. Afghan refugees, madrassas, Pakistani fighters for the Afghan jihad gave him the respite to project Pakistan as the leader of the Islamic world. This was done to curtail rebellion and annex all forms of dissent in the society.
- ✓Hudood Ordinances and Institutionalization of Islam to weaken opposition
One of the most important points of his Islamic policy was the adoption of Hudood Ordinances in 1979 as a number of laws designed to impose sharia in the sphere of criminal law. These ordinances following a shariah law approach came with severe punitive measures for criminal activities being espoused such as theft, sodomy and drinking of alcohol. The Hudood Ordinances were advertised as social reform and commitment to the Islamic principles. However, the sort with which these laws were enacted also had a political influence acting as a tool for accumulating power. The laws were much debated, particularly as far as the rights of women and any non-muslims were concerned, for instance, in the same way that the Hudood Ordinances denied women’s rights in Pakistan, for example, by regarding the evidence of a woman in cases of zina (adultery) as less credible than the testimony of a man. The analysis of the impact of the Hudood Ordinances and the overall focus on Islam made Zia’s autocratic regime secure and sealed, so his political might would remain uncontested. This act of transforming religion politically went on to change the social, legal and political structure of Pakistan substantially, supporting a somewhat ambiguous legacy.
- ✓Media used as a tool to intentionally mobilize public perceptions
Speeches were made, interviews were conducted and state announcements, all of which were relayed through television, radio and newspapers. PTV, an organization of Pakistan that is controlled partly by the government, helped in establishing this perspective. Courses were designed essentially to exalt the performance of the regime, especially with regard to the implementation of Islamic principles. One of the most publicized was the ‘Islamization’ of education in Pakistan, known to have been advertised through media. People religiously watched television programs and listened to information about Islamic teachings, which depicted Zia as a leader bringing Pakistan back to its Islamic age. School programs included stories of Islamic great personalities and important events from the past, moreover, a change of syllabi was made to more stress Islamic history and teachings. Detractors were painted as enemies of Islam and Pakistan everywhere. To a certain extent, this helped him in establishing his political control and the dissent on religious terms, by constantly referring to state inclined media circles, Zia directed and dominated the political discourse by flexing the muscles of an Islamic republic of Pakistan and muzzling dissent.
- ✓Introduction of Islamic Economic Reforms
In Zia-ul-Haq era, economic structural changes were propagated through the ideology of Islamic socialism and Islamic economics, which were meant to make the economic structure of Pakistan Islamic. These reforms were for the assurance of justice in the economic sphere, which is something that Islam does for its people. But the political aspect of the revolution was to strengthen his authority and justify his military authoritarian regime in the name of an Islamic state. Perhaps one of the largest was the adoption of Islamic banking, the purpose of which was to abolish the liberal concept of interest-based banking in favor of one whereby banking is undertaken as a business where the players share profits and losses in conformity with the Shariah. Zia supported crusade against interest on the ground that it was unlawful in the Islamic law. Then in 1985 the State Bank of Pakistan was instructed to work with the Islamic banking system and therefore interest free banking was partially launched. Furthermore, in 1980, Zia set the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance, for the collection of Zakat money from Muslims and to spend it on the needy. This was presented as a strategy to foster an equal society using the Islamic model of Zakat. In sum, compared with the overall message of ‘Islamization,’ the economic liberalization under Zia did not bring significant structural economic change. The economy remained weak and volatile and many of these changes were superficial and had more to do with the political rhetoric that Zia was trying to portray a more ‘Islamic’ face to Pakistan than anything else.
Antithesis; Was Islamization a need for Pakistan?
- ✓Capitalization of post-independence Public desire of Pakistan as an Islamic State
Demand for an Islamic state became important once Pakistan gained its independence in 1947. Pakistan was born with the reunification of Muslims of the subcontinent with the aim and purpose to establish a state that shall function as an ideal Islamic State. The founding fathers of Pakistan, like Jinnah, also believed in the significance of Islam for the country, though they did not want a religious state but a state with Islam as a reference moral code than a political system. But over the next few years, after independence, the population demanded a truly Islamic state, which also indicates the link between the Pakistani identity and Islam. As was used earlier in the case of Southeast Asia, the basis of political order, taking the name of Islamization, became the clarion call for those who envisaged a political culture dictated by Islamic norms of right and wrong, superior to imported democracy and colonial models. The pressure for Islamic reforms was equally due to the idea that Pakistan, in the first few years of its being, was moving away from the principles on which it was built. Soon after the coup, in 1977 when Zia-ul-Haq usurped the power, the people wanted an Islamic Pakistan which became leverage for the military regime. The Islamization programme that Zia initiated can be attributed to this public pressure, however, some scholars disregard this, saying that Zia used this demand for political consolidation.
- ✓Islamic strictness on Corruption, Crime and other social moral decays, becomes a need
During his era, social ills such as corruption, moral depravity, and political instability in Pakistan had escalated to the climax, thus, Islamization appeared to be the viable option. In order to explain the endeavor toward an Islamization of Pakistani society, Zia-ul-Haq spoke of rampant moral degeneration, political turmoil, and economic stagnation. Surveys & people’s belief showed that many Pakistanis felt that their society is turning away from Islam and that there was more bribery, nepotism, misuse of power among politicians and state officers. Public enterprises of Pakistan were various and ridden with inefficiency and corruption during the 1970s. In its report of 1977, the World Bank noted that the crisis in Pakistan’s bureaucracy had deepened and was characterised by bribery and the collapse of organizations. As the people of Pakistan appeared to grow disillusioned about their leaders and politicians, Zia-ul-Haq seized the opportunity to style its Islamic reforms as a way of returning to the steward and purging corruption. In this respect, what Zia aimed at was viewed by many as a reaction to the moral and social degradation people experienced. For example, Islamic economic policies of usury-free banking meant to cut short economic corruption, which had risen dramatically under the previous regimes. Therefore, Islam was regarded not only as a means for developing and strengthening the political power but also as a solution to the social and moral problems existing in the country.
- ✓Public demand for Shariah Implementation.
It remained a fact that there was a high popularity of the idea of an application of the Islamic laws and Sharia in several countries and it can be explained by the political disappointment among people and constant fatigue from the corruption and social instabilities. After the 1971 war, the country had problems of internal instability, economic crisis, and the public lacked confidence in the government. The political demand for Shariah was particularly noticed when Zia-ul-Haq seized power in 1977. Taking advantage of this kind of thinking within the public domain, Zia made himself a leader, who alone could bring out the Islamic ideological potentialities of the masses. There was a slowly emerging opinion that, being the country for Muslims, Pakistan has to be run according to the principles of Islam and that’s why the role of religion in politics became more significant. Surveys within Pakistan and campaigns during political elections during that duration indicated that many Pakistanis requested more of the Islamic laws as they thought it could address issues of poverty, corruption and even social injustices. This Islamization under Zia not only became a political tool but also a reaction to the societal call for increased Islamic political authority that Zia had gained as a powerful political instrument.
Critical Analysis
The Islamization under Zia-ul-Haq was therefore the real attempt to cater for the public desire for a code of Islamic laws as well as a political stunt that was aimed at advertising for his regime. On one hand, there was a segment of the population who longed for an Islamic system of governance as a remedy to social upheaval, corruption and economic crises after the year 1971. The promulgation of the Hudood Ordinances, Islamic banking and other reforms were viewed as a way to make the nation conform to its Islamic dimensions and offer justice to people. The opposition on the other hand accuses Zia of using Islamic religion to mainly further his political power, but also to suppress any revolt. Although Islam was employed to rally the populace to support its cause, it was also employed to hinder opposition and manage the political environment with extreme dexterity. Although Islamization did strike a chord with a certain demographic of the population, it was also employed as a political tool to strengthen Zia’s grip on power. Strange as it may seem, this has the effect of obscuring the extent to which deep-rooted political self-interest is mixed with a genuine attempt at serving public interest.
Conclusion
The Islamisation that took place during Zia-ul Haq’s rule can be argued as being both a result of the people’s popular demand for an Islamic political system and also as an intellectuals’ and elitists’ planned move. There can be no doubt that Zia also used Islam to advance political purposes of instituting his authoritarian rule to silence the opposition and centralize power. The advantages include a positive strategic orientation to the West during the Afghan war, and the manipulation of Islamic rhetoric through the state-owned media to consolidate his power base. Although Islamization was a process that satisfied one or, more specifically, some sectors of, societal wants, it was also firmly grounded in politics. Thus, no matter whether it was a realistic orientation to the people’s expectations or an effective political move, the Islamization under Zia affected the Pakistani political and cultural context and its result remains in the contemporary Pakistani policies and culture.
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