I have also first hand knowledge , ie personaly know and met great general Gen Hamza (hero of 1971 war), Gen Ghulam Muhammad SSG, Gen latif , Gen Javad Nasir.
Forgive me but i would rather trust my father, uncles and many dozens of acquaintances who all reiterate the same thoughts which i have reflected here, these people were the unit commanders at the time and were more in touch with the pulse of the Army.
My father was a war veteran and was posted in Parachinar area during Afghan War as well, most officers were extremely concerned about the import of extremists from all over the world to fight the Soviets...Also of high risk was the complete freedom given to the Afghans in Pakistan without check and balance...this was something which was seen as a disaster by most of the Army...when the war would have finished, these warriors would be left without a job and without a home since their countries were quite pleased to be rid of them...
The volume of drugs and weapons which infiltrated Pakistan in Zia era were previously unthinkable and unheard of...this was a huge evil which infested Pakistan under the guise of Jihad and Zia did nothing to ensure that Pakistan is protected from such threats...
The green passport gained notoriety because of the Afghan drug runners courtesy the stupid and sheerly disastrous policies of Zia...
Zia has a major hand in the current instability of Pakistan, that is not something concocted it is based on the facts mentioned above...
Who told you that zia damaged army ,please stop this negative propoganda, yes he stopped induction and kadiyanis officers promotions.
You forget his hypocrisy when he committed to hold elections but then went the so called Islamic way and lambasted democracy altogether, it is a case of ideology shift which he perpetrated by using Islam as an excuse to retain his power...the extent to which he went to promote his cause as Islamic was really a disaster for Pakistan...the constitution of Pakistan was not Un Islamic, yet Zia portrayed that we had been kidding about Islam before and only he was the certified expert to take us on a true path...
So Pakistan Army is only for Muslims?
Thanks for clarifying on behalf of Zia, though i cannot digest the fact that the same Zia had no reservation and shame about trying to greet Dr. Abdul Salam on a state level when he got the nobel prize...when as per Zia's own amendments to the constitution...the good doctor could have been punished for breaching the law...
It was funny how Abdul Salam's speech was edited to not show the public when he gave references of the Quran when addressing the gathering at the Nobel award ceremony...
Also funny that as per Zia's constitutional amendments...Dr. Abdul Salam could have been imprisoned for 6 months for calling himself Muslim...still Zia met him because he had to save his face...
Why then meet him if the Kadiyani got a Nobel prize...suddenly he became an equal Pakistani instead of an untrustworthy heretic Pakistani?
Dr. Abdul Salam was a great scientist and a patriotic Pakistani...his nobel prize was called a Jewish and Qadiani conspiracy by some great religious zealots and his lectures in Pakistan could not be held in many places in wake of threats from the very religious parties that Zia nurtured...
If you do not believe me then read about him and what his fellow scientists or his associates from his student and teaching days say about him...we issued a stamp in his name quite recently in 1998 and there was no name of him anywhere in Zia era except for the Tamgha which Zia had to give to save face of Pakistan...shameful when one of the world's biggest physics research facility is in his name...we have ignored him for most part...
Calling Kadiyani's in official documents as Ahmedis was enough to send the message across and to safeguard any damage to Islam...
To enact further laws and SOPs to make everyone in the Kadiyani community feel as if they were being targeted by the state was stupid...Victimizing the Kadiyani officers who were patriot Pakistani's first was not at all something admirable...
And just for the record, Zia era promotions were heavily infused with the prerequisite of politically correct views, most of officers in disagreement with Zia's political takeover of the country were not given a positive rating, especially if they displayed a tendency to do the politically incorrect thing during Marshall Law duty...Anyways i am not saying that no good person was promoted...the point is that many incapable officers stood a better chance over the more capable ones and that had a negative effect on Army...
The current command has adhered to a much more professional promotion criteria as befits Pak Fauj...
What seperate herritage ? Islamic is our religion and culture .I have doubts about your understanding of basics of islam.
Hmmm...another case of calling out the heretic?
You think anyone you do not see eye to eye with is a person with weak Imaan?
Do not jump the gun...Relax and try to understand that there are Muslims who are not Arabs and have their own history and customs which does not negate Islam...why should i feel that Arabs are superior whereas we are all equal in Islam?
Why not focus on the history of my other ancestors who contributed to the culture of the world even though they had not yet seen the light of Islam?
Are we a country just for Muslims or for all people who call themselves Pakistani...in that case would not a Pakistani student wish to learn about all the wonderful things which were carried out in this land of ours without just focusing on our Muslim heroes whom we all love and appreciate?
Why the fear that this will undermine Islam, this will never do such a thing...however Zia wanted to project himself the guardian of Islam in order to retain his power so he went overboard in all what he did...to retain his hold on the country...look at the religious extremism in Pakistan...linking religion to militancy created a backlash that we are still suffering from...thank Zia for it...
Persians respect their Persian ancestors and the good things they did, still they are good Muslims as well...
Zia defeated Russia other wise you are part Russian culture .
Stop listening to Hameed Gul...
Yes we helped tilt the balance but we did not defeat Russia on our own, least of all Zia alone...
US defeated Russia by using Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The entire world got rid of their extremists by sending them off to Pakistan, Pakistan was stuck with the unwanted extremists after the War...
Pakistan got millions of refugees whom our GOP thanks to its great leader went ahead and assimilated into the population without caring for the obvious implications of such a step...
Zia bears the responsibility for leading Pakistan from one threat into a certain trap...the fact that he did not even take some safety measures to at least protect the future of Pakistan from the extremists goes to show that he was entirely incompetent to perceive the threat...a major reason was his cosmetic Islamic requirements...
Economic indicators were not good that is reason Pakistan listed in failed state.
The whole world saw Pakistan become stable economically and here you are with another strange comment...which indicator are you talking about?
After three days army was sent to effected areas , another good example of good governance.
Very cheeky my friend, if a bit below the belt...
More than 80% of PA mountain animal transport perished in the earthquake...the PA was worst hit actually...still they managed to catch up with alternate plans...
PA has always been there during natural disasters and i do not need to quote any reference...
They even repaired your barrages and waterworks for free which other companies were going to charge millions of dollars...this was during the Musharraf era by the way...
Musharaf is responsible for creation of TTP due to his dealS with US
Still you like Musharaf ? Strange
Another one who justifies TTP?
Very sad to see...
TTP has no reason to exist except to terrorize Pakistan...they are not anti US and despite their claims...they do not fight US, they fight only Pakistan...i am surprised that you do not see this simple case of an attempt to pit Pak Fauj against Afghan Taliban...Pakistan should remain neutral in the affairs of Afghans...
Mullah Omar never targeted Pakistan because he knows that Pakistan does not want Afghans to suffer, what Pakistan did was to safeguard it self, however it tried its best to try to mediate and no one can deny that Pakistan was the last country to break ties with Afghanistan and the reason was that our mediation failed...still we did not ever target the Afghans ourselves and we shall not do that...they know this and see US as their primary enemy...
The Afghans did not venture into Russia after the defeated Russian Army, they only fight those who occupy their own soil, with extreme hate...
TTP is the attempt to destabilize Pakistan by using rogue extremists ....
By virtue of the ensuing conflict a very visible campaign has been carried out to brand the Afghan freedom fighters and the terrorists as the same thing...
Another aspect could be to force PA directly to attack the Afghan freedom fighters...which PA should never do since that is the one thing that shall be detrimental to our future stability...
However the fact remains that we have to take on TTP, whether they have a foreign master or not is something we can think about while eliminating them...if they are anyone's lapdogs, killing them will make the master clear about what Pakistan will do to its enemies...let us fight the fight and take the rest in stride...
You see the presence of foreign forces have made the Afghans in the Pashtun belt united with Omar in this fight for freedom...Karzai is hated in these regions as someone who wants to humiliate Pashtuns by giving all power to the Northern Alliance leaders...he is not someone the Pashtuns respect and that is why there is a stiff resistance...this is the reason even US is now showing willingness to talk to the Taliban...
Coming to Musharraf, he was much better then Zia but still a usurper...however he showed acumen and traits which are the hallmark of a good leader...so yes i like him much better than Zia...
Does it mean i say he did not make mistakes...Not at all