The sacking of Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto's government on charges of corruption, nepotism and interference with the judiciary has important lessons for Sri Lanka at a time when we are focusing or perhaps feet-dragging on the future of the Executive Presidency.
President Leghari of Pakistan used his executive powers to dissolve Parliament, sack the whole government including hundreds of top officials and put Premier Bhutto under house arrest.
This summary dismissal shows two major points - how a government could collapse overnight damaging the stability of the nation and on the other hand how a non-political Head of State can use his discretion to dismiss a Head of Government who he believes is not running the administration properly.
Ms. Bhutto howled in protest saying whether she was good, bad or ugly only the people can decide whether she should remain Prime Minister. President Leghari has responded with a long charge sheet ranging from corruption to interference with the Supreme Court.
In Sri Lanka today the debate principally centres on the pros and cons of whether we should have an Executive Presidency, or a fully fledged parliamentary democracy with a figure-head President.
Should a government be stable at all costs - continuity as Lee Kwan Yew would call it - or should a government be sacked if it is found to be acting completely against its mandate? Party loyalists here will decide on the issue, probably depending on which side of the political fence they are on. It might even be exactly the opposite way they thought and preached before August 1994.
Of course even a Head of Government - the Prime Minister - can appoint a rubber stamp Head of State (President) and life can go on for any government. But others may focus on this issue, if the government is really serious about abolishing the Executive Presidency, a promise already reneged on for quite some time.
The political fall-out in Pakistan is worth study here in Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately for the Army again it is being plagued by a few bad eggs. Just when it was getting over its public image problem - in fact winning the sympathy and support of even the people of the North - here comes an incident such as the Krishanthi Kumarasamy tragedy.
No doubt the Army needs to take very strong disciplinary action against its errant soldiers for what is indeed a dastardly crime. Equally, however, the Army and the Government must be mindful that here are men serving in the North with little or no rest and recreation so vital for any Army in the battlefield.
When our reporters visited the North recently we saw a long queue of soldiers waiting for a ride to Colombo on home-leave. There were not enough flights for them. We did not publish the photographs we had taken of these soldiers at the time because the Army had just launched a recruitment drive. But that does not mean the problem does not exist.
The Army top brass and Government must address their minds to this crucial issue before more such horrible acts like what occurred at Chundukuli recur.
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