The Pakistan National Alliance was a nine-party alliance in Pakistan, formed in 1977 in which the alliance agreed to run as a single bloc to overthrow the rule of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected leader of that country. It was a major and largest alliance formed against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his government members. When it was formed, Pakistan Media speculated that "9 star has been united to end the democratic regime of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his collaborators. Bhutto and his colleauges [Zodiac] stars are revolving into a big trouble [astrological] ring. The Alliance had 9 parties and had all secularist forces, communist forces, socialist forces, conservative forces and hard-line Islamist forces at a single bloc. However, after General Zia deposed Bhutto and his close colleagues, the alliance divided into two sections. Under Zia, the secular forces, communist forces, and socialist forces were undermined and destroyed. Many of the secular, communist, and socialist party members were either killed, tortured, or went missing whom fate are still unknown.
The Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) manifesto was to bring back the 1970 prices. Implementation of Islam was its primary election slogan. They promised to enforce Islamic laws "Nizam-e-Mustafa", the Shariah laws. They were a conglomerate of diverse views and of contradictory causes, such as Asghar Khan's secularism, Abdul Vali Khan’s Socialism, Nazeer Abbasi's Communism, Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi's Conservatism, and Maulana Maududi's hardline Islamism united by common dislike of Zulfiqar Bhutto's autocratic policies on a single platform. At this platform, the modern European style-influenced forces formed a alliance with totally opposite of hard-line Islamist forces. The alliance decided to contest the elections under one election symbol "plough" and a green flag with nine stars as its ensign.
Contesting the 1977 elections jointly the PNA launched a national campaign against the government after the controversial and allegedly rigged results showing the Peoples Party as an overwhelming victory in the general elections. The agitation caught the Peoples Party by surprise and after several months of street fighting and demonstrations. Bhutto opened negotiations with the then PNA leadership but whether or not it would have been signed by all PNA parties or by Bhutto remains open to speculation. In a single unusual anti-Bhutto bloc, the alliance seemed to be effective when tapping a wave to remove Bhutto from government.
Bhutto's trusted confident and a life-long companion dr. Mubashir Hassan tried to handle the situation on behalf of Bhutto by bringing the alliance on a table to reach of co-existence and a vital political solution. On other hand, dr. Hassan advised Bhutto to not to rely either on establishment or use the force to curb the alliance. However, dr. Hassan's initiatives were not successful despite the efforts he made day and night. The PNA later refused talk to dr. Hassan as he was seen as a brain behind Bhutto's rise. An agreement was eventually reached in June 1977 and Bhutto was to sign it on July 5. However, despite the enthusiasm of the negotiating team, other PNA leaders had reservations about the agreement. The absence of a formal agreement between the government and the PNA was used as an excuse by the armed forces under Zia-ul-Haq to stage a coup in order to break the impasse. Those justifying the coup, argue that no agreement had been reached between the two sides.
In response, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto also 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 for the cause of Bhutto's hanging in 4 April 1979. In a coup staged by General Zia, Bhutto was removed from office with majority of his colleagues. Bhutto was thrown in jail with his close confident dr. Hassan who later witnessed General Zia's ill treatment to both men.
The Alliance split after the Army under Zia-ul-Haq ousted his government, between elements (conservatives and religious groups) that supported the martial law government and those who opposed it (socialists, communists and secularists).