The Quest for Political Legitimacy in Zia’s Era: An Analysis

This research paper analyses the question of political legitimacy in Zia’s era. In democratic countries the question of political legitimacy is lied in the will of the people. In Pakistan generally and Zia’s regime specifically the will of the masses is jeopardized. To manifest, Zia imprisoned the then popular leader, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and then gave him capital punishment. The judicial murder of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto neither dismantled his popularity nor conferred Zia with political legitimacy. Therefore, Zia took the support of Islam to Islamize the state and society for his political legitimacy. Moreover, he conducted the pseudo-democratic elections on non-party basis to patronize the apolitical and religious political class. In this regard, he Islamized the state, society, educational system, media, economy, and legal system for acquiring legitimacy. In this whole process of gaining legitimacy, he had controlled the apex courts to avoid any kind of legal decision to question his legitimacy.