News
Thursday, August 18, 2011
23rd death anniversary of Gen Zia passes quietly
ISLAMABAD: The 23rd death anniversary of General Muhammad Zia ul Haq, who usurped power in July 1977 through a coup, passed quietly on Wednesday.
No event was organised by his political beneficiaries, including Nawaz Sharif and others, to commemorate his death anniversary.
Zia joined British Army in 1943 and was appointed chief of army staff in 1976 by the then prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto after superseding various generals. But he toppled the democratically elected government of his benefactor in a coup de’tat on July 5, 1977. In the beginning, he ruled as chief martial law administrator, but promoted himself as the president in September 1978.
Zia died along with several of his top generals and the then US ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Lewis Raphel, in a mysterious aircraft crash near Bahawalpur on Aug 17, 1988. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk