Islamization under General Zia Al-Haq (1977-1988) : An Analysis

As a result of the political crisis in Pakistan, the Martial Law regime of General Zia Al-Haq came into power on July 5, 1977. The process of Islamization was given a new boost during the period of Zia Al-Haq 1977- 1988. He launched a comprehensive scheme to eradicate non-Islamic practices in Pakistani state and society. His Islamization program contemplated significant reforms in the legal-constitutional, socioeconomic and educational institutions of Pakistan. The principles of Zakāt -‘Ushr ordinance, Islamic Ḥudūd and Penal code were introduced in the country. To Islamizing the economy Ribā abandoning and Profit and Loss sharing accounts in banks were initiated. Besides, he renamed parliament as Majlis Al-Shūrā; the Federal Sharī‘at Court, Sharī‘at Appellate Benches and Sharī‘ah Council were established in the country. Under the umbrella of Nizām-e-Muṣṭafā, social reforms were introduced, through the stressing of sanctity of the Holy month of Ramaḍān, enforcement of the bans on gambling and encouragement of chadar for women. Un-Islamic programs were banned on television and radio and news in Arabic was made compulsory. The stated objectives of President Zia’s Islamization policies were to lead Pakistan in the direction of truly Islamic state. However, the critics of his polices considered it a tool for legitimizing and enhancing his political powers in the country.

Uniformed Data Model for Biological Data

Previous years have witnessed explosive enhancements in the amount of biological data due to scientific advancements in life sciences and their related complex engineering methodologies. Biological data mostly comprised of De-oxyribonucleic acid (DNA), Ribonucleic acid (RNA) and Protein structures (Ps) can be visualized at two levels, i.e. i) at macro-level and ii) at micro-level. At macro-level, it is classified as structured, semi-structured and unstructured contents related to bioinformatics domain. At micro-level, its contents can be diversified as dynamic, evolutionary and frequently occurring data formats. Biological data exists in heterogeneous formats and is presented by different notations and terminologies. Traditional data models such as object oriented, relational and hierarchical etc. are ham-fisted to handle this biological data stream due to its ever occurring structural changes. To incorporate these dynamic and evolutionary characteristics of biological data, there is a dire need of unified data model that empowers such characteristics for their efficient storage, retrieval and manipulation of biological data. This research work introduces Bio-TOS for modeling biological data based on Temporal Object-Oriented System (TOS) which itself is a well-established area for evolutionary domains. Dealing with polymorphic behavior, evolving nature of biological data, downward inheritance, and knowledge sharing across several families are some of the modifications applied to TOS. The presented unified data model for biological data is evaluated through implementing real life case study of bacteriocine (micro-organism in DNA). Architecture of Bio-TOS is provided for realization of the proposed data model. We further propose a Bio-Share Know (BSK) mechanism and query language to facilitate efficient storage, retrieval and manipulation of biological data. Finally, outcome of this research work is validated through an information retrieval system deployed at Bioinformatics Lab, KICS, UET Lahore.