Pakistan: Hello! You're Fired!

Prime Minister Mohammed Khan Junejo may have expected a warm welcome home last week as he returned from a Far Eastern tour. Instead, he abruptly learned that he had been dismissed by President Zia ul-haq, who also sacked Junejo's 33- member Cabinet and dissolved the 237-seat National Assembly.

Zia justified his actions by charging that Junejo had allowed the spread of crime and had failed to promote adherence to Islamic law. Few Pakistanis accepted that explanation. The real reason appeared to be Junejo's efforts to exert civilian control over the armed forces. Zia promised that parliamentary elections would be held within 90 days. Opposition Leader Benazir Bhutto -- daughter of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom Zia permitted to be hanged in 1979 -- declared that her Pakistan People's Party was "ready to go to the people."