GENERAL MOHAMMAD ZIA-UL-HAQ
PAKISTAN’S MILITARY DICTATOR SUPPORTED THE MUJAHIDEEN WHILE SECRETLY ADVANCING A NUCLEAR WEAPONS STRATEGY
1924-88 PAKISTAN
Having come to power through a coup and imposing martial law, General Zia-ul-haq’s foresight never anticipated the Soviets getting so close to the Pakistani border. This put immense pressure on Islamabad as it did not have the resources to defend its porous border with Afghanistan.
General Zia-ul-haq’s response was to adroitly manoeuvre himself as a beneficiary of US aid and the Arab states financing the Afghan resistance.
Over the course of a decade Pakistan received American money and F-16A/B multirole fighters as compensation for making the country’s tribal frontier a safe haven where the mujahideen could muster and re-arm. Whether or not the CIA knew about the general’s plans to import equipment for assembling nuclear weapons remains uncertain. It’s possible Director William Casey’s own judgment of the situation at the time, when the Reagan White House was supporting guerrillas in several countries, led to this glaring oversight. General Zia-ulhaq’s tolerance for Islamists was just as problematic as it drew radicalised young men to congregate in the cities where the mujahideen gathered.
Pakistan’s conniving head of state was robbed of his place in the history books on 17 August 1988 when his official plane, a C-130 Hercules, crashed in the desert.