Word: zia
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Instead of war, the two countries turned to trade and games. Pakistan sounded out India about the possibility of importing three elephants to replenish its dwindling supply of five, all living in zoos. In addition, India agreed that Pakistan President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq would visit in February to attend an India-Pakistan cricket match...
Benazir Bhutto, 33, was back at her Karachi home last week after 25 days in prison. In an interview with TIME, the charismatic leader of the opposition to Pakistan President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq sounded more bitter and less certain than when she was firing up huge crowds with calls for national elections. But she was still defiant, blaming the government for the fact that 40 people have been killed in recent disturbances. "This regime is prepared to shoot at people quite mercilessly," she said. Nonetheless, Bhutto appeared shaken by her imprisonment, and by the failure of the millions...
Since her return from exile last April, the charismatic leader of the Pakistan People's Party has been trying to force a confrontation with Zia and Prime Minister Mohammed Khan Junejo, who assumed office last year after elections that were boycotted by most of the country's political parties. Bhutto roused huge crowds with calls for new elections and the resignation of Zia, who has insisted on remaining the unelected President until 1990, permitting no elections to the National Assembly until then...
Last week Junejo decided that enough was enough. He banned political rallies marking Independence Day, including those by his own party, the Pakistan Muslim League. Zia, who was away on a pilgrimage to Mecca, almost certainly had a role in the decision. When the opposition ignored the ban, police arrested hundreds of Bhutto's advisers and political allies in predawn raids around the country. Opposition supporters in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad surged into the streets, where they were met by riot squads and tear gas. In Lahore, beleaguered police fired into a crowd, killing four and wounding dozens...
...rioting appears to have changed Pakistan's political course. Junejo and Zia will have difficulty defending the crackdown, a necessity for winning support in the U.S. Congress, which is considering the Reagan Administration's $4.02 billion aid package for Islamabad. Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto's efforts to force the government's hand may spark more bloodshed, possibly creating the same type of social unrest that led to Zia's military coup...