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| 1979–88 |
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| The Zia regime used Islamization of Pakistan as a way to underscore the shared identities of Pakistanis in the face of increasing demands by Sindhis, Muhajirs (originally Urdu-speaking refugee Muslims from North India), Pathans (from the Northwest Frontier Province area), and others. | 1 |
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| 1979 |
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| The Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan (See Dec. 21), causing a massive influx of Afghan refugees into Pakistan. | 2 |
| Zia announced elections for Nov. 17, but with a series of amendments to the Political Parties Act of 1962, arguing that political parties led to factious tendencies in the populace. Major parties refused to register by the Sept. 30 deadline. Zia then postponed the elections indefinitely, dissolved political parties, and reinforced martial law. | 3 |
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| 1980, May |
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| Article 199 of the constitution was amended so that high courts could no longer rule on the validity or effect of martial law. The legal community became disaffected, despite earlier support for Zia's supplanting of the Bhutto regime. Nevertheless, the Zia regime lasted for several more years because no major challenger emerged to provide a viable alternative. | 4 |
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| 1983, Aug. 12 |
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| Zia announced a new political framework, promising provincial and national elections by March 1985. | 5 |
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| Aug |
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| When the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) (originally organized in March 1981) launched a nonviolent civil disobedience movement in response to Zia's announcement, a mass uprising resulted in Sind. Rural violence focused on government property, banks, trains, and the police. | 6 |
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