I grew up during Ayub Khan era. What a peaceful time it was. As a young teen ager in Sargodha I thought nothing of going to see the late night show with friends on bicycle to the city which during my time had only 2 cinemas. Even though my village (Chak) was just over 4 miles from city, the thought that I might be in physical danger never occurred to anyone.
My personal opinion is admittedly controversial, but I believe that two persons have done the greatest harm to Pakistan.
First was ZA Bhutto. He was partially responsible for the breakup of the country (Read Hamood Ur Rahman report) . ZAB also killed off entrepreneurship by nationalizing everything under the sun. ZAB let workers take over even the nationalised factories who then sold off machinery worth crores for peanuts. Pakistan never really recovered from this brutal choking off of industrial development. Kidnapping for ransom was first heard during his time as Sindhis found an easy way of getting rich overnight.
Second man was Zia ul Haq. In addition to illegal usurpation of power; Zia gave us Kalashnikov & drug culture. In the name of Islam he had people publically flogged. Did crime reduce because of that?. He introduced Hudood Laws; are rape & sodomy any less? Needless to remind one of Mukhtaran mai & poor young boys of Kasur.
One had never heard of target killing or burning of Christian homes before Zia’s Islamization. It was Zia who created MQM, SSP and the sectarian outfits. His legacy lingers on in his protégé Nawaz Sharif who cannot find in his heart to remove Lal Masjid mullah despite Aziz’s open admiration for Da’ish and the killers of the Army Public School. 12 year rule of Zia created the mind-set which insists on legalising child marriages quoting the example of Hazrat Ayesha ( RA) but won’t openly condemn suicide bombing when suicide is clearly forbidden in the holy Quran.
Zia’s policies created a schism between the moderates/ liberals and the extremist / jihadi lovers. We became obsessed with minor issues which are not even part of the religion preached by our holy Prophet (PBUH). For example criticizing of Sehaba was never a crime worthy of losing one’s life during Prophet's lifetime nor is there any Hadith to this effect. LEJ /TTP on the other hand consider killing of Shia a work for Allah because Shia don’t venerate first 3 Khalifas.
Even the political leaders such as JI Amir Munawwar Hassan consider TTP butchers Shaheed, whereas TTP knowledge of Islam in evidenced by the fact the Zafar ullah Mahsood, a close companion of Baitullah Mahsood admitted that he had never read Quran until he was in Jail, whereas I, a liberal completed reading the holy book when I was barely 12 years old.
Conversions to Islam in Punjab started during Ghaznavid period in the late tenth Century that is almost one thousand years ago. We don’t need to import Salafi/Takfiri Islam from Saudi Arabia to make us better Muslims.
History tells us that Wahhabi targets were not the infidels but the Muslims Ottoman Turks and most of their victims were Allah fearing Muslims. Wahhabis actually sided with the British Kafirs to kick Muslim Ottomans out of the Arab lands during WWI. Salafi/Wahhabi is essentially an Arab nationalist movement which has no place in Pakistan. The bigot Zia promoted Wahhabism in Pakistan resulting in the sectarian strife.
Extremist loving section of the society calls moderate/ liberal Pakistanis like me and agents of the West. Liberals & secularists may be infidels & agents of the West, but they don't blow up schools, they don’t cut people’s throats and they don’t burn Christian homes. Liberals also don’t bomb mosques or carry out suicide attacks. Liberals are also against marriage of nine year old girls!
Many Zia lovers mistakenly believe that he defeated the Soviet Union. Nothing can be further from the truth; without the funding by CIA & the Gulf countries and the arms from the US , Zia or anyone else would not have been able to do anything. Zia merely facilitated the training of jihadis from all over the world and thus creating the mess we are in today.
Forgiveness is a Muslim virtue, but I cannot find in my heart any sympathy for Zia because I hold Zia responsible for turning Pakistan for a peaceful haven into a living hell. I pray that Allah sends Zia into the deepest hell.