Zia’s Islamization
Zia’s Islamization(1977-1988)
General Zia-ul Haq was the military administrator from 1977 to 1988. He introduced the Islamization which was to be practiced throughout the country strictly. The Islamic sentiments have always been very strong in the nation and full alive in Pakistan. Several ruling governments have used the Islam as a lethal weapon to persue their own interest. In his first adress to the nation he said that the Islamic laws would be implemented and that the entire attention of the current government was to bring the legal, social, economical and political fields of the country under the Islamic principles. All the people in Pakistan would be allowed to lead their lives in accordance with the teachings of Holy Quran and Sunnah. The government of Zia-UL-Haq took a number of steps to eradicate all the Non-Islamic principles and policies from the country. He brought the Zakat, Ushr, Islamic Hadood and Penal code in the country. Zia was responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center of Islam. Zia was the most controversial leader in the history of Pakistan. Zia no doubt was the person who had created various problems for the society and country whose implications are still be observed. Zia knew that Pakistan was formed on the religious basis and that the religious elite has very strong basis in the country’s politics. He that’s why imposed the Islamization in the country in order to gain the legitimacy of the population and of course the religious parties.
Islamization In The Politics:
The Islamization in the politics included the setup of the Shariat Courts, the amendment in the constitution and the Hudood ordinance.
A federal Shariah Courts were established to deal with the cases according to the teachings of Holy Quran and Sunnah. They were installed in all the High Courts on 10Th Feburary,1979. Ulemas were given the post of the judges. Federal Shariat Benches instead of the Shariat benches were established in 1980 which were to hear the appeals against the decision of their subservient courts and to interprets the Islam. The appeals against the decision of the Federal Shariat Courts are heard by the Shariat Appellate bench of the Supreme Court. Some very important laws were being struck off because of their un-Islamic nature. The judges of the superior courts were appointed by the General Zia. They supported the rapid development of Islamization. In lower district courts there is considerable changes in the enforcement of the Hudood laws which were now to be implemented in the provinces of the Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
There were also very much amendment in the constitution of 1973. The ninth amendment in the constitution was introduced by Zia that stated that the injunctions of Islam as prescribed by the Holy Quran and Sunnah should be the superior and supreme laws. All the legislation(which means the law making of any country) was also to introduce new laws under the golden teachings. The Article 203B of the constitution was also changed and it stated that the Muslim Personal law. Any law relating to the procedure of the court or tribunal, insurance practices and procedures were to be eliminated from the constitution. Beside the constitutional amendment many other amendments were made in the laws which primarily include the laws relating to the women, evidence laws, Ehtram-e Ramadan and the prayers laws and the Blasphemy law was also introduced.
The Pakistan Penal Code(PPC) and the Criminal Procedure Court (CRPC) were transformed through the ordinances in 980, 1982 and 1986. The 1980 laws prohibited degrading remarks against Islamic persons and those who will conduct the disregard of the Islamic workers will be jailed for more than 3 years. In 1982 the religious minority Ahmadiya were restricted to call themselves as the Muslims. In 1986 it was also declared that the disregard of the Islamic prophet, Sahabah and the Sharia-Islam was made a cognizable offence punishable with the imprisonment with the fine also. There was also a Law Of Evidence which stated that two women are required to testify in the place of one man. There was a lot of protest and demonstrations against this law. In legal matters two women were to stand against the testimony of one man. Thus the status of women was badly degraded in the society. The women who were to enter the legal contracts would necessarily have the signature of another person as the witness. The prayed timings were also fixed. For the observance of the prayers arrangements were made especially the Salat-Al-Zuhur in all the government and private institutions and organizations which included the educational institutions, airports, railways stations and the bus stops. Even special committees were established to attract the people to offer the prayers
Ann Ehtram-E-Ramadan ordinance was also formed which prohibited the eating , smoking and drinking in all the places. No eating will be allowed for the thirty sacred days of the Ramadan. The people found not observing the sanctity of this month will be fined for RS 500 and jailed for three months. The non-Muslims and minorities will be excluded from this ordinance and they will also be arrested if found violating the laws. Under Zia’s regime there were also laws for the women to cover their heads in public places, public schools, colleges and state televisions. The women’s role in the sports and the performing arts was strictly banned.
The Ansari Commission formed in 1980 gave a piece of advice to the president on the Un- Islamic social convention and also recommended that women should not allow to leave their house without a Male escort. The same was the rule for leaving the country. The other clauses of this commission was that unmarried and unaccompanied women will not be allowed to serve as the overseas diplomats. An Islamic dress was also imposed under this commission on the women in the public such as the newsreader and stewardesses.
Hudood Ordinance:
The Hudood Ordinance was very notorious and the most controversial Islamization clause. It replaces the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) with the Hudood Ordinance. Hudood means the (limitations and restrictions to the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah). It added the medieval punishments like the adultery, fornication, whipping, amputation and stoning to death. The punishment for the theft and robbery were the amputation of the right hand of the criminal and left foot of the criminal for the robbery The Zina was also a very strictly punishable crime. Zina means the extramarital sexes. The offenders reported in the case of Zina were stoning to death in front of the public. All these hudood punishments were the maximum punishments and there was a need of four witnesses for the crime being conducted. The four witnesses would give their remarks in front of the court and then the offender or criminal was to be punished. If the girl or the reaped women failed to bring the four witnesses in front of the court then this will be included in the adultery and then the women will be jailed and punished .The first case of Zina was reported in 1981 . A conviction for adultery of a thirteen year old blind girl Safia Bibi who was allegedly raped by the employer’s son. This was the first case of stoning to death.It had very negative effects on the country as a whole. There had been many women rape but no such case was referred to the court because of the lacking of four witnesses. Mixing the penal Code with Islamic Code was difficult and it had adverse implications on the society because of both the legal systems were entirely different from one another and no system could work efficiently. Pakistani women and human rights group throughout the country were protesting this ordinance. International community gave them a lot of support and the media was also very active in this part. In 1979, there were 70 women in the Pakistani jail but after the passing of this ordinance there were 6000 women in the Prison. There were many of the attentions and by the media and special programs were conducted to solve this problematic ordinance. In 2006, the parts of the laws were revised by the Women’s Protection Bill.
Economic Islamization:
The economic Islamization included the abolition of the interest, the enforcement of the Zakat and Ushr ordinance and the Riba.
The economic Islamization included the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance which were passed in the 1980. A specific agency was established for the collection of all the taxes and equal distribution among the needy people of the society. The 2.5% of Zakat was deducted from the bank accounts in the fasting month of Ramadan from the bank accounts of all the Muslims. This was collected in the Central Zakat Fund(CZF) and then proceeded to the voluntary Zakat and donations. These were the Zakat councils. This system was generated by the Zia in order to create an equality among all the citizens and that no person living in Pakistan who can donate the Zakat secure his money. This was to make every rich person of Pakistan aware of their duties of paying the Zakat and also to prevent the discrimination and the mistrust of the poor people that the rich does’nt help and support them. The Ushr was deducted 10% from the annual agricultural production. Every year. The Zia’s this policy created alt of the disintegration between the Shia and Sunni. As soon as his plans became there was a lot of objections from the Shia leaders because according to their jurisprudence payment of the individuals were there own choice. It means they could only provide money to the Shias. They conducted huge demonstration in the federal capital Islamabad which later the government announced that the Shia are exempted from paying the taxes. The taxes had done nothing In order to eliminate the wealth difference between the rich and poor.
Zia also introduced the Riba by which the interest on the loans and securities were wipe out and he aimed to create an interest free economy. Zia announced that all the affairs of the National Investment Interest, the house constructing Finance, and the corporation of investment In Pakistan were now to handle there departments on the interest free basis through the adoption of interest free profit-loss sharing. In 1981, the interest payments were to be exchanged by profit and loss accounts. The government introduced and financing schemes and they were constantly encouraging them to adopt these policies.
Social Islamization:
THE social Islamization included the Madrassa expansion, educational reforms, setting up the Islamic schools, colleges and the universities. There was also the cultural reformation in the society.
Madrassa Expansion:
The number of mosques and madrassa were increased tremendously. There were many educational reforms and various sharia departments were setup in the different universities which also included the Quai-E-Azam university in 1979. It main purpose was to train the Islamic legal specialist. But devoted most of his time in establishing the Quranic schools. Madrassa means traditional religious school which imparts the education of the Quran and religion more primarily. The Madrassa in the Pakistan for the very first time received the sponsorship from the state. There number during the Zia’s era was increased from 893 to 2801. The Madrassa that were closed due to the certain reasons were opened in 1983-1984and they ranged at least 1200. The most of them belonged to the Deobandi sect and one quarter of them belonged to the Bralevi sect. They were to receive the annual funds from the Zakat council and this was the one reason of their existence. They provided the free training to maximum children and also gave the impoverished Pakistanis while also provide them with the accommodation facilities. The schools were to close all the televisions and radios because of the new concept of the Zia’s Islamization. The schools which were banned on this basis came up with the huge criticism that the Zia is responsible for creating the antagonism between the Muslims and non-Muslims. It also led to the sectarianism and the picture that was inculcated on the international scene was also very disappointing which showed that the Pakistan was not a liberal and secular country. It has narrow mindedness and rigid leaders as well as the policies.
Educational Reforms:
Zia introduced many educational reforms during his Islamization. The study of the Arabic language was made compulsory for every student from grade6 to grade 8. The schools not following this policy were strictly closed. The there was the inculcation of the Islamiat and Pakistan Studies as the compulsory subjects that started from the initial classes as such the 2 or3. This was made compulsory up to B.A. The major aim behind this was to inculcate the sense of Islam in the students and also to make the students aware of their history that how Pakistan came into being. What were the reasons and how many people gave their lives in this regard. During Zia’s regime the religious schools were given heavy grants and they were specially looked by the Zia’s committee. The Zia’s committee was responsible to give the reports that were directly submitted to Zia. The degree of Islamic colleges were considered to be equal to the Masters and they were to offer the same job oppurtunities as offered to the other departments. Manu schools , colleges and universities were established during his era. The most famous was the International Islamic University in Islamabad. It was started to function as a proper university in 1981 for Islamic teachings, learnings of the Islamic laws glorious History of Islam. Almost all the Ulemas were appointed as the professors in this university. Zia also initiated a policy to send the expert Ulemas in different institutions for the teachings of the Hadith, Fiqh and Islamic Law. This step was taken in order to strengthen the Islamic education in different universities. This primarily included the Quaid-E-Azam university where a separate faculty was installed.
Cultural Policies:
The cultural policy was initiated by Zia that aimed to covert the country on purely Islamic ways and to eliminate all the practices of the West. In his address in 1979, he described to the nation the influence of the Western culture and the music in the society. He asked to the nation to banned all the Indian channels. Soon after his declaration the Pakistan Television Network(PTV) immediately stopped the casting of the Indian songs, films, dramas and the videos. Only the Pakistani musics, films, videos, dramas and the patriotic songs were allowed to be casted. Most of the cinemas in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and throughout the country were banned and many of then were even set on the fire.
There was an irony during the Zia’s era there was a lot of economic development that was expanded from the country’s upper middle class and it got till the country’s lower middle class. There was also the widespread popularity of the Western 1980’s fashion wear hairstyle and the pop music.
