Despite the British Raj law, Pakistan was still a very much an open society. Gay Pakistanis had a much better experience in Pakistan than they did in London or elsewhere. But that changed in the 1980s, under Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, His government took the law to lifetime imprisonment, and even death in certain areas under Sharia law. More and more Wahhabi-style religious schools or madrasas were opened in the country, generally with money from the Middle East as well as teachers educated in that region.