Junejo, Muhammed (1932-1993), was prime minister of Pakistan from 1985 to 1988. He tried to liberalize Pakistan but was hampered by the opposition of Pakistan’s president, Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq.
Muhammed Khan Junejo was born into a farming family on Aug. 18, 1932, in Sindhi, a village in rural Sindh province in what was then northwest India. He was educated at St. Patrick’s School in Karachi, and at Hastings Agricultural Institute in the United Kingdom. After returning to Pakistan, he took over the running of the family farm and entered politics. He became a member of the Pakistan Muslim League in 1953.
Junejo was appointed a minister in the West Pakistan cabinet in 1963. After the military coup of 1977, Pakistan’s new president, General Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq, made Junejo the country’s minister for railroads in the military government from 1978 to 1979. In 1985, Zia held local and national elections to enlist public support for his policies, and Junejo won a seat in the National Assembly. Zia appointed Junejo prime minister the same year. He was the first civilian prime minister to serve the country since the declaration of martial law in 1977. In 1986, after Zia ended martial law, Junejo lifted the state of emergency and sought to pass laws providing for a measure of political and journalistic freedom. He came into conflict with Zia, particularly when he made pronouncements on foreign policy, an area over which Zia exercised control. In 1988, Zia dismissed Junejo from office and dissolved the Assembly. Junejo died on March 17, 1993, in the United States.
