Islamabad sealed off as lawyers pledge protest

Security forces sealed off the Pakistani capital Islamabad today to prevent a protest against President General Pervez Musharraf’s controversial candidacy for a new five-year term.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived at the Election Commission shortly before 9am, along with some of the other 16 legislators who endorsed Musharraf’s candidacy, to file the president’s official nomination papers.

Lawyers said yesterday they would defy a ban on public gatherings of more than five people in Islamabad and stage a “historic” protest as Musharraf formalised his disputed re-election bid. They urged the public to join in.

But a massive security presence left the area around the Election Commission and the nearby Supreme Court deserted except for thousands of riot police, special forces commandos and plainclothes offers.

The government said it would prevent any disruption as part of a crackdown on opposition protests ahead of the October 6 vote by national and provincial lawmakers.

“This is a deplorable act on the government’s part,” said Munir Malik, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. “Why are they scared of peaceful protest? This is our basic right.”

Malik said authorities initially prevented bar association vehicles from taking its members to the Supreme Court, but they were later allowed to go.

With a blockade of Constitution Avenue – one of the capital’s main thoroughfares – they had to walk the last stretch to file nomination papers for retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed.

“We are ready to face whatever happens, but we will not let Gen Musharraf have a clear field. We are ready to die,” Malik told The Associated Press.

Trucks and shipping containers were put in place overnight to block roads leading into Islamabad, creating long queues of vehicles. Virtually no one was being allowed through.

Sufie Mohammad, who told police he needed to take his ailing father to a hospital, was turned back, as were parents trying to take their children to school.

“I will be sorry if your father dies,” a police officer told Mohammad. “But I have strict instructions that no one will be allowed to go into Islamabad today.”

Musharraf has seen his popularity and power erode since his botched effort to fire the Supreme Court’s chief justice earlier this year.

Lawyers were at the forefront of mass protests then, claiming the general was illegally interfering in the judiciary.

Many have aligned themselves with an opposition movement that claims Musharraf can’t seek another term because he has retained his powerful dual role as army chief.

The Supreme Court is considering several legal challenges to his candidacy.

The government crackdown began on Saturday night with raids that took several opposition leaders into preventative custody. Since then, at least 100 opposition party leaders and members – perhaps many more – have been arrested to stymie street protests. The detentions have sparked sharp criticism, including from the US, Musharraf’s biggest international ally.

Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, has pledged to step down as military chief and restore civilian rule if he gets a fresh mandate on October 6.

But a government lawyer said on Tuesday the general would remain army chief if he is not re-elected.

That has fuelled opposition claims, denied by the government, that Musharraf will declare a state of emergency if the court blocks his candidacy in a ruling expected within days.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party declared on Tuesday that its vice chairman, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, would contest the election - but only if Musharraf is barred.

That indicated that the party did not plan to run directly against Musharraf, who has held talks with Bhutto over a possible power-sharing agreement.