1977 Pakistani military coup

Taking place on 5 July 1977, it was carried out by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the chief of army staff, overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

[1] Proponents of social democracy, left-wing philosophy, and socialist orientation was encouraged by the government and such ideas slowly entered in the ordinary lives of the people.

[3] According to author Ian Talbot, "The reality seems to be that a certain PPP victory was inflated by malpractice committed by local officials, which may have affected 30–40 seats.

[citation needed] Bhutto responded with the use of Federal Security Force (FSF) and Police to control the situation as many activists of PNA were imprisoned.

[1] In 1977, one official of the Military Intelligence (MI) had persuaded Prime Minister Bhutto that martial law was imminent, and to speed up the negotiations with the PNA.

[6][page needed] The Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar-ul-Haq legitimatised the military response after issuing the Doctrine of necessity orders.

[6] On 24 October 1977, the Supreme Court began the trial against Bhutto on charges of "conspiracy to murder" Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan Kasuri.

[6] The Soviet Union harshly criticised the coup and Leonid Brezhnev condemned Bhutto's execution out of "purely humane motives".

[13] The US played an ambiguous role instead with many charging that the martial law was imposed with the willingness and "tacit" approval of the US and the CIA's involvement.

[14] When allegations were leveled against the US by Pakistani historians and scholars, American officials reacted angrily and held Bhutto responsible for his act.

[6] Despite US denial, many authors, and the PPP's intellectuals themselves,[15] held the US responsible and suspected the US of playing a "hidden noble role" behind the coup.

[6][page needed] The martial regime ended in 1988 with the death of President Zia and many other key military administrators in the government in a plane crash.

In 1999, military rule was again imposed against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by the armed forces, resulting in General Pervez Musharraf coming to power for nine years.