Mohammad Zia ul-Haq (1924-1988), an army officer, was president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an air crash that was a suspected assassination. He sustained a military government while strengthening Islamic institutions and practices.

Mohammad Zia ul-Hag was born into a middle-class family on August 12, 1924, at Jullunder in East Pubjab, India. After completing his early education at home, he enrolled at St. Stephen's College in New Delhi, India. Choosing a career in the British army, he joined the Royal Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun and then served with British troops in Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia during the latter part of World War II.

After the partition of India into India and Pakistan in 1947, Zia joined the Pakistani army. In 1955 he graduated from the Command Staff College in Quetta, where he later served as an instructor. He attended two military schools in the United States, first at...