Looking for a Fall Guy.(Pakistani Prime Minister Zafrullah Jamali may be on the way out)(Column)

Reclining in his crimson leather chair, Pakistani Prime Minister Zafrullah Jamali appeared almost to be enjoying himself as the speakers from the opposition benches in the National Assembly rose one after the other to blast President Pervez Musharraf. When prominent opposition leader Mohammed Khan Achakzai stood to take his turn, Jamali seemed to find the session downright humorous. "We cannot allow the military generals to usurp the sovereignty of the Parliament," declared Achakzai, bringing a mirthful look to Jamali's face. It wasn't exactly the reaction one might expect from the second most powerful man in a parliamentary democracy that has been unable to pass a single piece of legislation in eight months.

But no one in Pakistan was surprised by the silent prime minister with the curious smile. By now Jamali's passivity is just as much a fixture in Islamabad as the vitriol of Musharraf's conservative Muslim opponents. Jamali secured his current post (by a mere one vote) precisely because his quiet, nonconfrontational demeanor made him the least offensive candidate to the deeply divided groups vying for power- -the pro-military Pakistan Muslim League, the hard-line Muslim United Action Council and the pro-democracy Pakistan People's Party. But now it looks like that very same submissiveness and unwillingness to offend could topple the portly politician. In recent weeks a spate of fresh sectarian violence has so unnerved Musharraf and his circle of military backers that they appear ready to clean house. And Jamali looks set to become the first scapegoat. "His days are numbered," says a senior official.

In fact, it's an open secret in the capital that Musharraf is hunting for a new prime minister. A tribal chief from the frontier province of Baluchistan, Jamali has held cabinet posts in the past, but he lacks a strong political base. Presidential aides complain that Jamali is not competent enough to run even routine day-to-day affairs, let alone deal with the complexities of Pakistani coalition politics. "Jamali is responsible for the paralysis of the government," says a federal minister. "There is no leadership."

Of course, nobody ever thought the prime minister's job would be easy. ...