was in undisputed command of his party. He had experienced little difficulty in getting his budget approved by the Parliament and securing removal of the Punjab Chief Minister after the Lahore disturbances. Yet the Head of State ejected him from office abruptly and placed his own nominee at the Head of the Government. The new Prime Minister was an unknown quantity. He had been absent from the country for about 5 years preceding his elevation lo this office. Yet the Muslim League Parliamentary Party which had supposedly stood behind the late Prime Minister till the moment of his “dismissal” endorsed the Governor-Generals choice without even the formality of a discussion. It could have created an awkward situation for the Governor-General by rejecting the new leader of Government. Had the late Prime Minister enjoyed solid party support, it is unlikely that the Governor-General would have contemplated such a course of action. The fact that the majority of the new Cabinet was drawn from the previous administration indicated that the Governor-General had his friends in the Cabinet who were prepared to side with him as against their nominal chief.
Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly (1954)
(b) Divisions within the ranks of the leading party enabled the Governor-General to make another and a more dramatic assertion of his authority. This was the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly which came about in October. 1954. It confounded the parties and took the country by surprise. It ended the long dominance of the Muslim League in our national politics. The Leaguers were naturally bitter about it, but they made no organized move against what they believed to be abuse of power on the part of the Governor-General. It is curious that some members of the aggrieved party in the Punjab and Sind voted thanks to the Governor-General and hailed him as the savior of the country.
Chief Ministership of West Pakistan (1956)
(c) A somewhat different situation developed in West Pakistan on the eve of integration. The Governor-General was known to be keen on securing the Chief Ministership of the integrated province for one of his personal friends. He canvassed in this behalf and obtained promises of support from some prominent leaders of the majority party. This was contrary to parliamentary practice. In a parliamentary system, custom forbids the Head of the State from making known his political preferences and pressing the claims of politicians.
The right of choosing the Chief Minister of the Province was constitutionally vested in the majority party of the Provincial legislature which had not yet been called into existence. The Chief Minister designate was not prepared to join the party on whose support his government rested. The leader formed his own party by enticing away disgruntled members of the majority party. The strategy worked because its authors were aware of the discontent brewing within the party that had refused to fall in with their wishes and were confident of their own ability to profit from the situation.
