Lesser-known "Good" Dictators - Part II

This post is a sequel to the post on 8th April.

Mohammad Zia ul-Haq (Pakistan, 1977-1988)

General Zia ul-Haq staged a coup after parliamentary elections earlier in 1977 resulted in the opposition party's accusation of the government, led by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, of vote-rigging.

During his rule, real GDP per capita (in PPP term) steadily grew, though not impressively, from 1040 US dollars in 1977 to 1580 dollars in 1987. Zia finally agreed to hold parliamentary elections in autumn 1988 though he was killed in an air crash on 17 August of the same year.

Googling "Zia ul-Haq" reveals that he was a pro-business dictator.

After 1977 the government of Mohammad Zia ul-Haq (1977-88) began a policy of greater reliance on private enterprise to achieve economic goals, and successive governments continued this policy throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Soon after Zia came to power, the government instituted constitutional measures to assure private investors that nationalization would occur only under limited and exceptional circumstances and with fair compensation. A demarcation of exclusive public ownership was made that excluded the private sector from only a few activities. Yet government continued to play a large economic role in the 1980s. Public-sector enterprises accounted for a significant portion of large-scale manufacturing. (Source: Country Studies - Pakistan)