Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq
1924 – 1988 Pakistani army general, president, dictator
The Pakistani general who took power by coup and became a key US partner in the Afghan war.
- Religion
- Sunni Muslim
- Affiliations
- Pakistan Army; US Cold War ally
Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq seized power in Pakistan in a 1977 coup and hanged the deposed prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He pursued Islamization of law and society and ruled until his death in a 1988 plane crash. As a frontline US and Saudi partner, he channeled aid to the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet occupation.