ISLAMABAD – Former president and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) GeneralZia-ul-Haq was remembered on his 30th death anniversary on August 17 acrossthe country.
The four-star rank general served as the 6th president of Pakistan from1978 until his death in 1988, after declaring martial law in 1977. He alsoremained Pakistan’s military chief from March 1976 to August 1988.
He was Pakistan’s longest-serving head of state. In addition to Zia, 31others also lost their lives in the plane crash 30 years ago, includingJoint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, closeassociate of Zia, Brigadier Siddique Salik, the American Ambassador toPakistan Arnold Lewis Raphel and head of US Military aid mission toPakistan General Herbert Wassom.
Zia started his military career in World War II as a British-Indian armyofficer after graduating from the Delhi University with a BA degree inhistory.
In 1970, he led the Pakistani training mission in Jordan, provinginstrumental in putting down the Palestinian Black September insurgencyagainst King Hussein. Then-premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed Zia asCOAS in 1976.
Zia was killed in a mysterious plane crash near Bahawalpur on August 17,1988.