Pakistanis Protest Judge's Sacking

The protesters carried placards reading "Stop the murder of Justice" and "Go, Go Musharraf!" (Reuters)

"This is the beginning of the end of president Musharraf, his cronies and collaborators," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted as saying Khwaja Asif, a senior leader of former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League party.

Hundreds of protesters, including scholars, lawyers and right activists, threw stones and bottles at police several hundred yards from the Supreme Court building in the capital Islamabad.

Supporters of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), some carrying placards reading "Stop the murder of Justice", managed to join the rally.

"Our struggle will continue until the end of dictatorship," one PPP leader, Raza Rabani, told the crowd.

The protests came hours before Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudry was to attend a hearing at the Supreme Court in the capital into misconduct charges laid by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

The opposition says Musharraf is trying to intimidate the independent-minded judge to pave the way for his re-election by parliament and his dual position as president and army chief later this year.

Activists further say that Chaudry was punished for refusing to toe the official line.

Police State

Police arrested Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the president of Pakistan's main alliance of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) or United Action Front, after he tried to break through the security cordon.

He tried to resist arrest but was placed into an elite police jeep. The vehicle could not drive out through the crowd and activists then pulled him out of the car again before he was detained once again.

Another eight activists were also arrested.

"It is the duty of every Pakistani to come out and join the movement," Reuters quoted Ahmed as saying shortly before his arrest.

"We call on the army and other institutions — this movement is for the survival of these institutions."

Police also baton-charged 50 lawyers and political activists who were shouting anti-Musharraf slogans to push them back from a road outside the nearby Supreme Court building, an AFP reporter said.

They shouted "Go Musharraf, go" and "Shame, shame" when security vehicles passed by.

Protests were also held in the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan and Bahawalpur against Chaudhary's sacking.

A leader of the Islamist alliance who lives in Lahore was detained while a PPP leader said he was being confined to his home.

"They are not allowing me go out ... There's no freedom of expression. It has become a police state," the provincial PPP leader, Qasim Zia, told Reuters by telephone.

Chaudry has been largely confined to his Islamabad home since his suspension.

He has already told the panel of five judges sitting on the Supreme Judicial Council that he does not expect a fair hearing.

"My struggle is not for politics," Chaudry told the Nation newspaper. "I had an easy way out by resigning but I decided to protect the respect of the judiciary and my personal honor."

Media Gagged

"I never knew that the government would get so desperate and would lose patience so soon with this free flow of information," said Kamran Khan.

On Thursday, March 15, Pakistani authorities further banned the popular talk show "Today with Kamran Khan" for lambasting the government's ouster of the Chief Justice, drawing international rebukes for gagging critics.

"Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) ordered the management of the GEO television network Thursday night to stop airing its flagship daily news program with immediate effect," said the channel in a late-night statement, reported Reuters.

Over the past week, the show had run a series of programs in which guests lambasted Chaudry ouster.

"I never knew that the government would get so desperate and would lose patience so soon with this free flow of information," said host Kamran Khan, an investigative journalist.

"We never had an agenda other than providing people the most accurate news and an objective analysis on this most important turning point of our history."

The media gagging has also drawn fire from media rights watchdogs.

"Under increasing political pressure at home and abroad, the Musharraf government is resorting to heavy-handed tactics in dealing with critics and the independent media," said Bob Dietz, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)'s Asia program coordinator.

The New York-based group said that the rush to "roll back" press freedom in Pakistan was accelerating.

"We call on President Musharraf to live up to his stated commitment to freedom of the press and stop what appears to be retaliation against Geo TV for critical coverage."

Chaudry's ouster has already sparked international furor, with the United States, Pakistan's main ally, criticizing the move.

A group of prominent British lawyers, including Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie Booth, also voiced concern over the Pakistani move.

"The reports of the humiliating treatment of the chief justice of Pakistan is causing great international unease, and is not in the interest of the government of Pakistan, and lowers the international esteem of Pakistan," the 70 lawyers said in a petition, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.