Lawyers resume anti-Musharraf protests in Pakistan

Thousands of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s opponents rallied nationwide today, the first street protests since a burst of political violence in Pakistan’s business capital deepened a crisis clouding his plans to stay in power.

About 3,000 lawyers, opposition activists and civil rights campaigners gathered for about an hour in the centre of the eastern city of Lahore, chanting slogans including “Go, Musharraf, go!” and calling for the restoration of democracy.

They also carried banners including “The chief justice is the only truth in Pakistan” – a reference to the head of the Supreme Court, whose suspension has spawned the biggest challenge yet to Musharraf’s eight-year rule.

Lawyers and opposition parties have staged a series of growing protests since Musharraf ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry on March 9 for allegedly abusing his office.

An abortive visit by the judge to the southern city of Karachi to address supporters on May 12 prompted a counter-rally by a pro-Musharraf party that degenerated into two days of clashes and gun battles which left more than 40 dead.

Opposition parties have accused Musharraf of complicity in the bloodshed and mounted a one-day national strike in protest, while lawyers’ associations said they would hold weekly nationwide rallies.

About 200 lawyers gathered in Karachi today, raising their fists into the air and chanting.

“The blood of the May 12 martyrs has flowed into the lawyers’ movement,” Iftikhar Javed Qazi, president of the Karachi Bar Association, told the small gathering in front of the city’s press club.

Another 200 lawyers rallied in the eastern city of Multan, where they burned an effigy of the president.

Qazi blamed Musharraf and the Karachi-based Mutahida Qaumi Movement party - which sits in both the regional and federal coalition governments and has a reputation for militancy – for the bloodshed.

Denying any political motive, Musharraf insists he suspended the chief justice after receiving evidence the judge had abused his office.

However, analysts and political parties sidelined since he seized power in a 1999 coup say Musharraf – anticipating legal challenges to his quest for another five-year term even as he remains head of the army – wants to get rid of the independent-minded judge.