Ans: General Zia-ul-Haq Era (1977 – 1988):
During the elections of 1977, all the political parties in the country had
decided to fight against People’s Party. All the parties formed an alliance
called ‘Pakistan National Alliance’ Maulana Mufti Mahmud was its Head. The
National Assembly elections were held on 7th March, 1977 in which People’s
Party won with a great majority. The National Alliance blamed it of rigging
the polls and boycotted the provincial elections held on 10th March. The
elections were declared invalid. A movement called ‘Nizam-e-Mustafa’ was
started. When the situation was beyond control, Mr. Bhutto invited the
National Alliance for negotiations. The negotiations were still in progress.
When army’s Chief Zia-ul-Haq overthrew the Bhutto government and
declared martial law on 5th July 1977. He ruled over the country for about 11
years from July 1977 to August 1988. Genera! Zia-ul-Haq was killed in an
air crash on 17th August, 1988. The Chairman of Senate, Ghulam Ishaq
Khan, took over as Caretaker President of Pakistan.