Word: zia
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...nine-party alliance includes loyalists of President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, the military president who died in a plane crash three months ago. Another 30 seats in the assembly went to independents and minor parties...
...years following his coup, Zia suppressed political activity, frequently justifying his actions by saying Pakistan was not ready for democracy. Only in the mid-1980s did he reluctantly loosen his grip on power, sponsoring highly restrictive nonparty elections. He then confined himself to foreign and military affairs, while his choice for Prime Minister, Mohammed Khan Junejo, steadily accrued political power at home...
Last May, acting under pressure from hard-liners in the military who resented Junejo's attempts to increase civilian control, Zia dissolved the government. His sudden death thus leaves Pakistan with neither a strong military leader nor a functioning civilian government. For the future, the man to watch is General Mirza Aslam Baig, 57, whom Ishaq Khan appointed to be the new army chief of staff, Pakistan's most powerful military post. A quiet man with an aloof manner, Baig is described by those who know him as a professional soldier with no political ambitions. Baig attended the tank trials...
...numerous and frustrated political parties may take to the streets ) if the scheduled elections are not held. Benazir Bhutto said from her Karachi home that she was satisfied the new government was following the constitution by allowing the Nov. 16 elections to proceed. Some analysts have speculated that Zia deliberately scheduled the ballot for November to thwart Bhutto's political ambitions; she is due to give birth to her first child in December. In any event, a return to the tumultuous party politics of her father's day is for the moment proscribed by Zia's ban on party endorsements...
...West, meanwhile, there is concern that Zia's death may mean that Pakistan will retreat from its vigorous support of the Afghan rebels. Zia had personally supervised the CIA-financed and Pakistani-run operations that gave sanctuary, training and arms to Afghan resistance fighters. Though many Pakistanis opposed aiding the rebels, Pentagon officials are convinced that General Baig and his senior military staff know where their interests lie. "The geopolitical realities remain even if Zia is gone," said a Defense Department official. "Pakistan cannot accept a Soviet-dominated Afghanistan on one border and India on the other." Those who consider...