elec-tion-ary: [Junejo government is sent packing]

ISLAMABAD: On May 29, 1988 Pakistan saw another overturning of a government when General Ziaul Haq dismissed the government of the then prime minister Muhammad Khan Junejo and dissolved the assemblies.

He used the power vested in the president under the Article 58(2) b, added to the constitution under the eighth amendment, to dismiss the National Assembly.

A new cabinet was sworn in the same day and Aslam Khattak was nominated as a senior minister. General Zia, however, did not announce a new caretaker premier after this nor did he immediately announce the date for the next elections. As per the constitution, elections are supposed to be held within 120 days after the assemblies are dissolved.

This presidential action was then challenged in the Lahore High Court. Although the court declared the move unconstitutional on September 27, it refused to order the restoration of the dissolved assemblies and the dismissed government.

The dismissed government interpreted the decision differently, though. Junejo declared himself the prime minister of state and sessions of the National Assembly and Punjab Assembly were summoned on October 1 and 2, respectively.

In response to this the Supreme Court, on September 30, first suspended the decision of the Lahore High Court and then upheld it again on October 5. The apex court in its decision clarified that the dissolved assemblies and the dismissed government would not be restored.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2013.