Zia ul-Haq, Muhammad

Pakistani general, in power from 1977 until his death, probably an assassination, in an aircraft explosion. He became army chief of staff in 1976, led the military coup against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977, and became president in 1978. Zia introduced a fundamentalist Islamic regime and restricted political activity.

Zia was a career soldier from a middle-class Punjabi Muslim family. As army chief of staff, his opposition to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 drew support from the USA, but his refusal to commute the death sentence imposed on Bhutto was widely condemned. He lifted martial law in 1985.