Though the eleven-year-old republic of Pakistan has yet to hold its first general election, its politicians stage some of the fiercest parliamentary battles of the British Commonwealth. Last week in Dacca, the evenly matched government and opposition forces of East Pakistan waged the biggest brawl in the young country's brief history.
It began when Abdul Hakim, speaker of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly, managed to destroy the government's slim parliamentary majority by disqualifying half a dozen government deputies for unlawfully holding state jobs on the side. Outraged government deputies laid down a barrage of paperweights, desk panels and curtain...