Correct, But Out

When ebullient, party-loving Hussein S. Suhrawardy was sworn in as Pakistan's fifth Prime Minister last year (TIME, Sept. 24, 1956), he was asked whether he thought Pakistan's most important problem was famine or foreign policy. "Idiot!': replied the Prime Minister. "Political stability. That's the biggest problem."

Last week the shaky coalition government that able, pro-Western Politician

Suhrawardy had held together for 13 months came apart at the seams and proved Suhrawardy's analysis painfully correct. The immediate dispute was a Republican Party proposal for breaking up the two-year-old province of West Pakistan into the divergent princely states and provinces that existed under the British. Suhrawardy opposed the change because it would involve a major change in the country's painfully achieved constitution. The Republicans, angered because they felt Suhrawardy's refusal would cost them votes in Pakistan's first general elections next year, walked out of his Cabinet and the government fell.

President Iskander Mirza was pleased enough at Suhrawardy's fall because the pair are old political enemies; nevertheless, the President asked Suhrawardy to stay on in office until a new government could be formed. The two leading candidates to succeed him: Foreign Minister Firoz Khan Noon and Finance Minister (and former ambassador to the U.S.) Syed Amjad AH. Both are firmly pro-Western, would not change Pakistan's foreign policy, which includes membership in both the Baghdad Pact and SEATO.

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