PAKISTAN: Pakistani police wielding batons and firing tear gas clash with lawyers and activists opposed to President Pervez Musharraf's bid for re-election

Wielding batons and firing tear gas, Pakistani police clashed on Saturday (September 29) with lawyers and activists opposed to President Pervez Musharraf as the Election Commission accepted his nomination for an Oct. 6 vote. Violence erupted outside the Election Commission in Islamabad after Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived. Aziz officially proposed Musharraf for president, and was at the commission in case he needed to defend the nomination during scrutiny. Musharraf's opponents later raised objections to his nomination but the commission rejected them. A lawyer for the opposition Musharraf's nomination would be challenged in court. Forty-three candidates have filed papers to run and a final list will be published on Monday (October 1). Black-suited lawyers, who have been at the forefront of opposition to Musharraf since he tried to fire the chief justice in March, threw stones at police and chanted "go Musharraf, go!" as police fired tear gas. Two lawyers were seen with bloody heads and several people were overcome by tear gas. An official said 12 police were hurt. Security men took into custody one leading opposition lawyer, Ali Ahmed Kurd and beat up another of their leaders, Aitzaz Ahsan. Police later fired tear gas to keep the protesters bottled up in the Supreme Court compound. Witnesses said Aziz was for a while unable to leave the commission because of the disturbances outside. Police and protesters also clashed in Karachi and Lahore. On Friday (September 28), the Supreme Court dismissed challenges to army chief Musharraf's bid to seek re-election, clearing a major hurdle to his securing another term. But despite the ruling, nuclear-armed Pakistan faces months of uncertainty as Musharraf faces fresh objections to his bid to control a country whose support is seen as crucial to U.S.-led efforts to stabilise Afghanistan and battle al Qaeda.

ITN Source | September 30, 2007

Tags:. .election. .beat. .list. .filed. .challenges