18 Killed Ahead of Pak Judge Rally

The violence is the worst since President Pervez Musharraf suspended the country's top judge two months ago. (Reuters)

"Eighteen people have died in the violence," Sindh provincial governor Ishratul Ibad was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"It is a very bad situation in Karachi."

Waseem Akhtar, the Home Minister of Sindh, told IslamOnline.net that seven QMQ workers have been killed in the clashes.

Forty people were also injured in the fighting.

Gun battles erupted after the pro-government Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) announced a counter rally against Chaudhry's visit to the city.

The visit is the latest in a series of protests by the opposition and lawyers calling for Chaudhry's reinstatement.

While Chaudhry was due to address supporters in Karachi, Musharraf was due to hold a rally in Islamabad.

Musharraf suspended the top judge on March 9 on charges of corruption and misconduct but the legal community and opposition saw the move as an attack on the independence of the judiciary.

They called Musharraf's move an attempt to intimidate the judiciary.

Receiving a hero's welcome from locals, activists and lawyers, drove on May 5 from Islamabad to Lahore to drum up support in his legal battle against Musharraf.

Burning City  

Black smoke billowed over the volatile city from dozens of burning vehicles. (Reuters)

Black smoke billowed over the volatile city from dozens of burning vehicles.

"The city is burning," a local told IOL.

Many roads including the one into the city from the airport were blocked by trucks, buses and containers in an apparent bid to disrupt Chaudhry's visit, IOL correspondent says.

Thousands of paramilitary troops and police were on patrol in the city.

Television showed pictures of men wielding AK-47 rifles crouching behind cars and firing at rivals.

A man with a neck wound was shown crying in a bus.

An AFP photographer at the scene of the biggest clash said workers from the QMQ exchanged gunfire for an hour with activists from exiled former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Gunmen on motorbikes also shot dead two activists from the party of another former premier, Nawaz Sharif, as they put up posters welcoming Chaudhry.

Stranded

The volatile situation in the city left the Chief Justice stranded at the Karachi airport as government supporters shut down all main roads, including those leading to the airport.

Paramilitary troops at the airport tried to force the judge into a helicopter and fly him to the Sindh province High Court.

"He refused to take a helicopter to go to the (High) Court to deliver his speech," sources close to Chaudhry told IOL.

"He insisted on traveling by road and be accompanied by his supporters."

Several thousand MQM activists are already surrounding the High Court where Chaudhry was due to address lawyers.

They chanted pro-government slogans and beat several lawyers trying to get in.

Fearing further escalation, the Sindh provincial government appealed to Chaudhry to return to Islamabad and postpone his trip to Karachi.

"The chief justice should think about his decision and go back to Islamabad," said Akhtar, the Sindh Interior Minister.

Governor Ibad said that Chaudhry's team of lawyers had now been ordered to leave Karachi and urged that he (Chaudry) too should "consider the grim situation of the city and take a decision."

Gov't to Blame

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch accused the Pakistani government of deliberately stoking political violence in Karachi.

"The prevention of a peaceful reception for the chief justice by Musharraf's supporters demonstrates the military government's intolerance for civil society actions and has triggered widespread violence and death," Ali Dayan Hasan, Human Rights Watch's South Asia researcher, told AFP.

Hasan said Saturday's clashes were a "dark day for civil and political liberties in Pakistan."

"The sequence of events leading up to this violence, including statements from the provincial authorities and the arrest of hundreds of opposition activists ... indicates that the government, acting through its coalition partners, has deliberately sought to foment violence in Karachi," he added.

Benazir Bhutto's PPP also accused the Pakistani government of "sponsoring terrorism."

"It is state-sponsored terrorism," Sherry Rehman, a spokeswoman for the opposition party, told Reuters.

"The Sindh government is responsible but we are not going to back off."

The judicial crisis has blown up into the most serious threat to the eight-year rule of Musharraf, an army general who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

The crisis has erupted in the run-up to a general election and an anticipated attempt by Musharraf, an important US ally, to secure another term.

Musharraf wants to be re-elected by the national and provincial assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election around the end 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.