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The Supreme Court additional registrar was gunned down inside his home in Islamabad. (Reuters) |
ISLAMABAD — Unidentified gunmen stormed the house of a senior Supreme Court official in Islamabad on Monday, 14, and killed him a few hours before the court adjourned a hearing into the legality of charges against the country's most senior judge.
"Unknown gunmen broke into the house of Supreme Court additional registrar Syed Hamid Raza and shot him dead," Islamabad police officer Mohammad Aslam told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The victim is regarded as a key witness by the legal team representing the suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
The murder came just hours before the Supreme Court opened and then quickly postponed a hearing into the legality of charges brought against the top judge.
The hearing was postponed until Tuesday, May 14, minutes after it began when one of the judges, Falak Sher, said he could not sit on the 14-judge full bench dealing with the case.
"On account of seniority issues ... it might be inappropriate for me to hear this case," Sher told the court.
Pakistan's acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas later reformed the bench.
"Now a 13-member panel of judges would hear the case from Tuesday on a day-to-day basis," a court official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
President Pervez Musharraf suspended Chaudhry on March 9 over unspecified accusations of misconduct, outraging the judiciary, lawyers and the opposition.
Critics say Musharraf dismissed him to ensure a pliant judiciary in case of legal challenges against his intention to seek another five-year term as president-in-uniform from the outgoing parliament, stacked with his supporters.
The crisis has snowballed into a campaign against Musharraf and is the most serious challenge to his authority since he seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
Shut Down
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Shops and schools were closed in Karachi while most public transport remained off the streets. (Reuters)
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In a related development, the southern city of Karachi was virtually shut down on Monday after nearly 40 people were killed and about 150 wounded in Pakistan's worst political street violence in two decades.
"The city is totally paralyzed," city police chief Azhar Farooqi told Reuters.
He said security forces had stepped up patrols and the situation was under control.
Shops and schools were closed while most public transport remained off the streets as local authorities said in a statement they had called a public holiday to "mourn the deaths of those killed" during the two previous days.
The authorities have also banned gatherings of more than five people in the country's second biggest city.
The government on Sunday authorized paramilitary troops to shoot anyone involved in serious violence and an extra 3,000 soldiers have been brought into the port city, bringing the total to 13,000.
The weekend violence began when Chaudhry tried to meet supporters in the southern city.
The opposition is blaming the government and the pro-government Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which runs Karachi, for the violence.
The government says Chaudhry, who returned to Islamabad without meeting his Karachi supporters, ignored warning not to travel to the city.
Opposition parties called for a second nationwide "black day" of strikes, business shutdowns and protests over the bloodshed.
"Our call is peaceful," said Asfand Yar Wali of the Awami National Party, an ethnic Pashtun party that suffered casualties in the clashes.
"People will close down their businesses in protest at the brutalities in Karachi unleashed by the government and its agencies."
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