Pakistani opposition lawyer rearrested

Pakistani police rearrested a prominent opposition lawyer this morning, despite promises that he would be allowed to remain free for the three-day Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, his son said.

Aitzaz Ahsan was picked up before dawn as he travelled on the road from the eastern city of Lahore to the capital, Islamabad, his son, Ali Aitzaz, said.

“He has been put under house arrest again,” he said from the family home in Lahore.

Aitzaz Ahsan was at the forefront of protests demanding that President Pervez Musharraf reinstate the Supreme Court’s top judge, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, and other independent-minded justices fired under a state of emergency he imposed on November 3.

The lawyer was placed under house arrest after the state of emergency was imposed but was freed early yesterday for three days to celebrate the holy day.

He spent yesterday visiting judges and meeting supporters and journalists in Lahore before heading to Islamabad early today to offer holiday prayers with Mr Chaudhry, his family said.

Police stopped his sports utility vehicle on the road as he headed to the capital, Ali Aitzaz said. Police drove him to a police station, before returning him to his home in Lahore, he said.

Later, about 100 police officers in riot gear prevented some two dozen lawyers and activists from meeting Mr Chaudhry to escort him to a local mosque for prayers.

The police stood behind barricades of metal, concrete blocks and razor wire as the lawyers chanted: “Go, Musharraf, go.”

“This is shameful,” said Athar Minallah, a senior Supreme Court lawyer and a protest organiser.

Mr Chaudhry did not emerge from his house during the protest.

The crackdown came ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for next month.