June 14, 2007
Thousands Rally Against Musharraf
in Fresh Protests
Islamabad
Thousands of lawyers and opposition activists in Pakistan Thursday
joined fresh countrywide protests against the suspension of Chief
Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry by President Pervez Musharraf in March
over alleged misconduct.
Despite large-scale arrests of opposition workers in the central
province of Punjab recently, a large crowd rallied in the provincial
capital Lahore, waving black flags and chanting slogans like "Go
Musharraf go" and "Reinstate the chief justice."
"Our struggle is aimed at protecting country's constitutional
institutions. We will continue our protest until Musharraf quits,"
the Lahore High Court Bar Association president, Muhammad Ahsan
Bhoon, told the rally.
In the southern city of Karachi, lawyers boycotted court proceedings
and marched down to the city's press club.
They condemned new restrictive measures against the media and
demanded the resignation of the president, who is facing the biggest
challenge to his authority since he took power in a military coup in
1999.
Similar demonstrations were also held in several cities across the
country, intensifying the mass political movement against Musharraf.
Opposition parties view Chaudhry's removal as an attempt to prevent
any legal challenge to Musharraf's plan to win re-election by the
incumbent parliament in October.
The demonstrations came as US Assistant Secretary of State Richard
Boucher was holding talks with the government officials as well as
opposition leaders in Pakistan to ensure transparency in forthcoming
general elections to be held early next year.
"Free and fair elections are impossible under the present setup,"
opposition leader in the provincial assembly of Balochistan, Kachkol
Ali, told Boucher Thursday in Quetta.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties and lawyers' organizations have
given a call for a transport strike in the port city of Karachi to
protest the killings of more than 40 people in clashes between the
supporters of Musharraf and Chaudhry on May 12.
President Musharraf is responsible for the violence, accused
Pakistan's cricketer-turned-politician and opposition leader Imran
Khan in BBC's Hard-Talk programme on Wednesday.
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