'Sir, the Troops Have Come'

They made their move in the middle of the night, almost apologizing for their coup. Shortly before 2 o'clock last Tuesday morning, a group of officers descended on the Prime Minister's residence in Rawalpindi. "Sir, the troops have come," a servant advised Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The Prime Minister took the news stoically, gathered his wife and children on the lawn of the official residence, had coffee and ordered his bags packed. He then moved to the Governor's Mansion in the nearby hill resort of Murree, some 30 miles away. Behind padlocked iron gates, guarded by paratroopers, Bhutto was comfortably confined with an aide and a special shipment of books. The leader of the coup, Pakistan's self-effacing army chief of staff, General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, was not even mentioned by name when the government radio interrupted a broadcast with a brief announcement of the takeover.

Shortly after Bhutto was deposed, the soldiers went to the home of the opposition leader, retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan. After saluting, they arrested him and drove him to a government rest house. The head of Bhutto's federal security force, several of his intelligence chiefs and most members of his Cabinet were also rounded up and placed in "temporary protective custody." So were other leaders of the nine parties that comprise the opposition Pakistan National Alliance.

All in all, no more than 50 people were arrested. The coup was bloodless, the country calm. TIME New Delhi Bureau Chief Lawrence Malkin, arriving by road from India without a visa, was quickly admitted at the border. "Good news," remarked an immigration officer. "Now we have the army, and they will give us elections."

That, in fact, is exactly what the military leaders promised. The army ruled Pakistan from 1958 until the 1971 civil war, which ended with the secession of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). This time the officers show no inclination to stay in power any longer than necessary. In his broadcast to the nation, Zia declared that the army would guarantee elections in October and then return the country to civilian rule.

The general also said that President Fazal Elahi Chaudhry would continue as head of state, the 1973 constitution would remain in force, and he himself would serve as martial-law administrator. The chief justices of the high courts in the four provinces, he added, had agreed to serve as provincial governors. Zia's announcement brought a round of cheers even from opposition politicians. They assumed that the military takeover would increase their chances of winning the elections.

The crisis stemmed from the March elections, in which Bhutto's ruling Pakistan People's Party yielded only 36 of the 200 National Assembly seats to the opposition. The P.P.P. polled an incredible 93% of the vote in Punjab, the country's most populous province and an opposition stronghold. It was a dazzling victory--except that practically everybody in Pakistan assumed that the elections had been massively rigged by Bhutto's zealous supporters. Accordingly, the opposition alliance immediately embarked on a campaign of rioting, looting and strikes, which carried with it a threat of civil war. Nearly 300 people have been killed in the violence so far.

Bhutto became a national hero for restoring the country's morale after the 1971 war. His popularity, however, was badly eroded in recent years by his highhanded ways. After the March elections, he tried doggedly to come to terms with opposition leaders on conditions for holding new elections in the fall. He imposed nationwide prohibition of alcoholic beverages in an effort to win the support of conservative Muslim elements.

Shattered Pride. Meanwhile, the army was assigned the unpleasant task of maintaining the peace. The soldiers, whose pride had been shattered by the 1971 defeat, once again found themselves taunted and reviled by demonstrators for supporting an unpopular government. "Zia, Zia, be-hiya [Zia, Zia, shameless]!" became a popular slogan against the army leader. Four brigadiers and several dozen field-grade officers in Lahore resigned rather than follow orders to fire on unruly mobs.

Zia, 53, was appointed chief of staff by Bhutto last year over several higher-ranking officers because of his reputation as a nonpolitical "soldier of Islam." But finally Zia decided to take action, alarmed by increasing clashes and the distribution of weapons to Bhutto's supporters. As he told the nation last week, "When the political leaders fail to steer the country out of a crisis, it is an inexcusable sin for the armed forces to sit as silent spectators."

Wild Pony. At first it seemed doubtful whether the army would allow Bhutto to take part in the election campaign. But at week's end, Zia emphasized that the former Prime Minister was free to participate. In fact, added Zia, "I hope he will come back and stand for election." Whether the brilliant, mercurial Bhutto will decide to do so, however, is not yet clear. He is still popular with much of the peasantry, and he may well emerge from detention to rally his supporters, perhaps denouncing the army for its intervention (and even for the country's growing economic troubles). On the other hand, if he senses defeat, he may stay out of the campaign and watch the opposition coalition fall apart--leaving the conservative religious parties in one group and the moderate, urban-oriented parties in another. Bhutto would then be in a strong position to rebuild his own party as a centrist coalition.

It is also possible that in the end the army will once again yield to the temptation to remain in power, particularly if the outcome of the October voting is not decisive. Observes Correspondent Malkin: "The generals may discover that they are still riding a wild frontier pony and may find it exceedingly difficult to dismount."

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