BY ALL DEFINITIONS, GEN ZIA WAS A MULLAH

I beg to differ with Hanif that an Army General cannot be a Mullah. All Wahabis are Mullahs. So a Wahabi General is a Mullah General. Who issues a certificate for Mullahhood? Beard or even a madrassah education may not be a sign of Mullahood. A mass murderer like Maulana Masud Azar of JeM is a man of God like all others of his persuasion who all propagate the religious practice of "Lets Kill for God" as does Osama. None of the assassins like Mohd. Atta of 9/11 fame had beards and nor did they go to Madrassahs.

Rediff message boards are populated by Pakistanis many with false Hindu names living in both sides of the border. Being religiously obsessed, they find enough inner compulsions to plaster the message boards with hatred as they fail to project their object of veneration with enough rational textual backup. Either such texts do not explain or the practitioners contributing to message boards are untutored in holy rhetoric. What makes Hanif think that a meek, opportunistic hand-wringing type of General cannot be a devout Muslim? An effete character usually needs God more than a self-reliant one.

Selecting spineless subordinates is a common trait with leaders everywhere and both Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto or General Zia ul Haq cannot be singled out for similar follies committed by them. Actually it is very easy to rule any Muslim majority country under the Shariat which the faithful believe is God's Law even if it is being administered by corrupt leaders as there is no universally accepted or undisputed grievance procedure in place. The ISI can and does pro actively get actuated in the war raged on behalf of God but RAW has no such sanction or acceptability anywhere in India or for that matter the CIA in America.