PAKISTAN: Pakistan's suspended Chief Justice leaves for Karachi to hold take part in a rally with his supporters

Many roads in the Pakistani city of Karachi are blocked ahead of a visit by suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to hold a rally with his supporters. Roads in the Pakistani city of Karachi were blocked and security was tight on Saturday (May 12) ahead of a visit by suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to participate in in a rally with his supporters. Trucks with flat tires, oil tankers and containers had been put in the roads virtually sealing the airport and isolating much of the city centre and High Court and preventing the embattled Chief Justice from entering the city. Chaudhry, who was suspended on March 9 over undisclosed charges of misconduct was due to address lawyers at the city-centre High Court later on Saturday which has been delcared a public holiday because of the rallies. A pro-government political party that runs Pakistan's biggest city was planning to hold a demonstration in the city to protest against Chaudhry and what it calls the political tricks of his supporters. The government's suspension of Chaudhry has outraged the judiciary and the opposition, and has blown up into the most serious challenge to President Prevez Musharraf's authority since he seized power in 1999. Opposition leaders said police detained hundreds of their activists on Friday (May 11), drove off others trying to set up rallying points along the airport road, and tore down banners put up to welcome Chaudhry. "Around 500 activists of MMA (Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal) have been arrested. A total number of arrests including other opposition parties make around 1000. About 4000 to 5000 houses have been raided," Liaquat Baloch, a central leader from Islamist opposition MMA told journalists on Friday. Authorities confirmed some activists had been detained. Pakistani police often detain activists briefly in advance of protests in an effort to maintain order. A few hundred activists from Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, a student faction of Pakistan's largest Jamat-e-Islami Party, held a torch-lit welcome rally for the Judge late on Friday. Two organisers of the anti-government rally who belonged to the party of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were reportedly shot dead, hours before the judge arrival in Karachi. Another activist from a religious party called Sunni Tehtreek was also shot dead. In Islamabad, Chaudhry's supporters threw rose petals and shouted slogans as he arrived at Islamabad airport for his flight to Karachi. "We hope that no obstructions will be caused on the way; no situation will be created," Chaudhry's lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan told reporters. "And you can see the excitement of the lawyers seeing him off here," he added, as scores of lawyers shoved and pushed to get close to Chaudhry. Chaudhry's visit to Pakistan's biggest city is the latest in a series of protests by the opposition and lawyers calling for his reinstatement. Chaudhry denies wrongdoing and has refused to resign. The provincial government said this week terrorists might take advantage of the situation and police said they had arrested a dozen people planning to attack Chaudhry's rally. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who is also army chief, is due to seek re-election in September or October and wants to be re-elected by the national and provincial assemblies before they are dissolved for elections due around the turn of the year. Analysts say his main motive in seeking the removal of the independent-minded Chaudhry is to have a more pliable man in place in case of a constitutional challenge to his plans. While Chaudhry meets his supporters in the southern city, Musharraf was due to hold a rally in the capital, Islamabad. END

ITN Source | May 13, 2007

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