Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's dictatorship after assuming the position of sixth president of Pakistan began on 16 September 1978 and ended with his death in an aircraft crash on 17 August 1988.

Zia came to power after a coup, overthrowing prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and imposing martial law in 1977.Policies Chief of the Army Staff President of Pakistan

Martial law was declared, senior civilian politicians opposing Zia were imprisoned, and less well known figures in opposition student groups, trade and journalist unions and political parties were "made an example of" with public floggings.

The regime made thousands of arrests throughout Sindh and Punjab effectively banning display of the flag of Pakistan Peoples Party or its symbol.

More than 50 people protested in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, by self-immolation while thousands of participants and onlookers were arrested and jailed on grounds ranging from disruption of public order to sedition and high treason.

Crimes punishable under this measure, which superseded civil law, included "any act with intent to impair the efficiency or impede the working" of, or cause damage to, public property or the smooth functioning of government.

The regulation was retroactive, as it "shall be deemed to have taken effect on July 5, 1977"—the day General Zia overthrew his predecessor Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

[13] During the 11 year regime of General Zia, international human rights groups repeatedly expressed concern over army's ruthless measures to suppress dissent.

Bhutto's Attorney General, Yahya Bakhtiar was beaten up in his cell in Quetta jail this month: his family was given his bloodstained clothes for cleaning.

[13][16] On 19 November 1985, Amnesty International also accused the Zia regime of torturing and denying fair trials to political prisoners tried by special military courts.

The military courts regularly use as evidence confessions extracted by torture while prisoners are hung upside down and beaten, given electric shocks, strapped to blocks of ice, deprived of food and sleep for two or three days and burned with cigarettes.

[18] International Commission of Jurists again published a report on 7 September 1987 stating that "some human rights abuses continue in Pakistan, including alleged military attacks on villagers, despite the lifting of martial law 20 months ago."

"[19] The Zia-ul-Haq military regime coincided with much of the Soviet–Afghan War (December 1979 to February 1989), which took place across its border and which Pakistan was a major participant helping the mujahideen insurgents against the Soviets.

Despite the human rights situation in Pakistan being assessed as "very grim" during this era, the United States's Ronald Reagan administration—a major supporter of the Afghan mujahideen—continued to provide military and economic assistance to the Zia ul-Haq government.

[20] The 1979 Hudood Ordinance decreed by General Zia ul-Haq replaced parts of the secular, British-era Pakistan Penal Code, adding new criminal offenses of adultery and fornication, and new punishments of whipping, amputation, and stoning to death.

These rules were challenged on an Islamic basis—the opponents offered an alternative interpretation of the ayah (verse) Quranic injunction [Quran 2:282] used as the basis of the law, emphasised that in other ayat (verses) men and women are assumed to be equal, and noted the importance of the importance of the testimony of two of Muhammad's wives, (Khadija and Aisha) in early Muslim history.

[28] These pious rebuttal notwithstanding, the protesters were met with tear gas and lathi (baton) charges by police outside the High Court building.

After the failure of efforts to convince the Martial Law authorities to lift the ban, the PFUJ launched a campaign of hunger strike in Karachi from December 1, 1977.

[34] Unchastened the government rebounded from this setback by banning other periodicals: the daily Musawaat in Lahore, and weeklies including Al-Fatah and Meyar, all of which were critical of the Martial Law regime.

However, the Government continued to ban press/media coverage of political activity, "which, according to some reporters here, merely shifted the burden of responsibility to editors, making them more vulnerable and therefore more timid.

"[12] Ten senior journalists and office-bearers of the PFUJ belonging to the National Press Trust newspapers—Pakistan Times, Imroze, and Mashriq—were summarily removed from service because they signed an appeal for “Peace in Sindh“ calling for an end to government repression during the 1983 MRD campaign.