The Tehreek Nizam-e-Mustafa or the Nizam-e-Mustafa (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...

, Islamist movement and a slogan which was started in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

by the Jamat-e-Islami and the

Pakistan National Alliance The Pakistan National Alliance (Urdu: پاکستان قومی اتحاد, Acronym: PNA), was a populist and consolidated right-wing political alliance, consisting of nine political parties of the country. Formed in 1977, the country's leading ...

in 1977 to overthrow the

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

government of

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...

and establish an Islamic system in

, inspired from the Sharia, the PNA, which had started this movement believed that the 1977 Elections of Pakistan had been rigged by Bhutto, and therefore, lacked any legitimacy. The movement was started by an alliance of 9 parties which also formed the

, the supporters of this movement carried out large protests across the country, demanding Bhutto to step down, however, things went south as the law enforcement agencies opened fire on the protestors, and Section-144 was declared across Pakistan, which allowed the state to ban the people from carrying much of their outdoor activities. The political instability in Pakistan resulted in a military coup d'état by the Chief of Army Staff,

Zia-Ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, ( Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial ...

in 1977, as Zia-Ul-Haq made calls for a political retribution, and announced the introduction of Islamization reforms, the Nizam-e-Mustafa Movement soon lost its significance. The movement ceased to exist after the PNA was dissolved in 1978 when the allied parties started to diverge on their agenda.

Downfall of the Movement

As the PNA launched a national campaign, dubbed the Nizam-e-Mustafa, against the Bhutto Administration, violence ensued, after several months of demonstrations and street violence, Bhutto attempted to negotiate with the alliance, but he was not met with any positive response. On 5 July 1977, Bhutto accused the United States of plotting a coup against him and indicated that this movement is fully funded by foreign powers. As a result, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto tried to crush the power of this alliance, with the help of his agencies such as FSF and Rangers and for this reason was also considered the cause of Bhutto's hanging on 4 April 1979. In a coup staged by General Zia, Bhutto was removed from office with majority of his colleagues. Following the declaration of Martial Law by Zia-Ul-Haq, the conservatives and Islamist fronts split and decided to fully support General

in his Islamization reforms, whereas the leftist members of the alliance decided to either oppose him, or stay neutral, and as Bhutto was imprisoned, the uneasy alliance started to quickly break, by 1978 it had completely dissolved.

Alliance Members of the PNA

The Alliance which started this movement consisted of 9 parties, each of which had an agenda, ideology, political goal and background different from each other. Many of the parties are now known by different names and have largely gone into irrelevance in Pakistani Politics, with the exception of a few. However, during the peak of the Nizam-e-Mustafa Movement, the alliance consisted of the following members: * Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) * Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) * Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) * National Democratic Party (NDP) * Balochistan National Party (BNP) * Muslim League (Qayyum) (ML-Q) * Muslim League (Functional) (ML-F) * Democratic Party (PDP) * Tehreek e Istaqlal (TI)

References

{{reflist Islamism in Pakistan