President of Pakistan from 13 September 1978 to 17 August 1988. Ziaul Haq’s career as a Military Officer began in 1945. He served for a decade in the armoured units, from 1964 to 1974. In 1975, he was appointed Corps Commander and in 1976 was promoted to the rank of General, and appointed Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army. After the military coup of 5 July 1977, he became the Chief Martial Law Administrator. His death in an air crash in 1988 marked the end of his Presidency. His period in office was noted for the trial and execution of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and for Pakistan’s successful campaigns, alongside the USA, against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. It is also noteworthy for its plethora of ‘Islamic’ legislation, some of which is regarded as primitive and unfair to women and to minorities, the spread of addiction to hard drugs, the growth of ethnic and sectarian tensions and the breakdown of law and order owing to easy availability of armaments.