PAKISTAN: Weaker Ally

For seven days eager-eyed politicians trooped into the teak-lined office of Pakistan’s President Iskander Mirza to bid for the job of Prime Minister, from which he had just evicted Hussein Suhrawardy. None quite measured up to the President’s notions. Then, looking no farther than his partner across the bridge table, Strongman Mirza found just the weak-man he wanted: Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar, 60, a colorless, back-room politician with almost no popular support.

Chundrigar, a devout Moslem lawyer who keeps his wife in purdah, is the leader of the once powerful Moslem League, which had been reduced to near impotence when Mirza drew many of its former supporters into his Republican Party. As Prime Minister, Chundrigar will be dependent on the votes of the Republicans and the will of the President. He will also serve the purpose of keeping out of office Suhrawardy, the only man with a popular following that rivals Mirza’s.

Chundrigar promptly pledged Pakistan’s continued loyalty to the anti-Communist Baghdad and SEATO Pacts. But few observers in Karachi believed that his rickety coalition could muster the strength to deal with the nation’s slide toward economic chaos. A reliable U.S. ally appeared to be getting weaker, and, because of this weakness, less reliable.