Word: zia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Completing the turnabout, the Reagan Administration is planning to spend $3.2 billion on military and economic aid to Zia's regime over the next five years. Topping the list of U.S.-made military hardware earmarked for Pakistan are 40 advanced F-16 fighter-bombers. The $1.1 billion aircraft package was delayed last week after Pakistan complained that it was not getting all the sophisticated electronic equipment that such other customers as Israel, Egypt and South Korea received. The problem has since been resolved, and the first six upgraded planes should be delivered in the next few weeks...
Several contentious issues remain. Zia, a devout Muslim who supports the Arab cause, is troubled by Washington's firm backing of Israel. The Reagan Administration would like Zia to curb Pakistan's opium production. According to drug-enforcement agents, an estimated 70% of the heroin (derived from opium) coming into the U.S. either originates in or passes through Pakistan. But overshadowing all else is Soviet activity in Afghanistan, which has driven 2.8 million Afghans to seek refuge in Pakistan. Says a Western diplomat in Islamabad: "Sometimes Zia's streak of religious fanaticism scares...
...preoccupation with the political picture in Southwest Asia is likely to draw attention away from the situation inside Pakistan. Though Zia promised elections when he overthrew the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977, he has refused to set a specific date for fear of civil unrest and has shunted potential military rivals to the sidelines. But countless Pakistanis still hold him responsible for Bhutto's execution by hanging in 1979 after a show trial. Bhutto's Radcliffe-educated daughter Benazir, 29, remains under house arrest because her public appearance anywhere in Pakistan could instantly send thousands...
...Zia's highly publicized campaign to strengthen Islamic values in Pakistani society has proved deeply divisive. He sees it as the only means of unifying the country's disparate ethnic groups, but the drive has alienated the intelligentsia and students, who deplore strictures on female behavior and on the use of alcohol. Zia's detractors go so far as to link the Increased number of youthful drug addicts in Pakistan, estimated to be as high as 50,000, to the rigidity of the Islamic code. They also note that although classical Arabic has been introduced to school...
...Still, Zia has shown himself to be an artful master of political compromise at home and abroad. When Shi'ite Muslims protested against the government's Koran-based compulsory tithing scheme, Zia backed off. He has also moved carefully in his rapprochement with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, with whom he would like to negotiate a no-war pact, and in his efforts to keep lines of communications open to the nettlesome Khomeini regime in Tehran. Zia will need all the political acumen he can muster if he is to negotiate successfully the narrow, obstacle-ridden path...