Ire grows in Pakistan over judge's removal

Islamabad, Mar 14: Pakistan's government, accused of using strongarm tactics and acting unconstitutionally over moves to sack the country's top judge, faces the prospect of growing opposition protests.

Lawyers in cities around the country kept up a campaign of agitation today in support of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, who was suspended last Friday and accused of unspecified ''misconduct and misuse of authority''.

''It is not as simple as they sacked a judge, detained him.

He is Chief Justice of Pakistan, he isn't an ordinary man. They have to face the music,'' Syed Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari, secretary general of the Pakistan Bar Council, told Reuters.

The controversy comes at an awkward time for President Pervez Musharraf.

He is under pressure from the United States to act forcibly against the Taliban on Pakistani soil and also to strengthen democracy when elections are held in his volatile Muslim nation either later this year or in early 2008.

Opposition parties have made a cause celebre out of Chaudhary, who told a panel of five judges yesterday at the outset of his case in the Supreme Judicial Council that he did not expect a fair hearing.

Many observers suspect the reason the government wants to get rid of Chaudhary is because of his efforts to make authorities account for people who disappeared after being detained.

The hearing will reconvene on Friday against a backdrop of more demonstrations.

''We'll continue our protest unless the government apologises for its unconstitutional action,'' Bokhari said as lawyers in black armbands boycotted courts in several cities.

The six-party Islamist alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), has called for nationwide protests after Friday prayers.

CONCENTRATION OF POWER

Speculation that Washington is re-evaluating its friendship with General Musharraf will embolden all shades of opposition, including more mainstream moderate parties.

''If the government does not take steps right now to defuse the situation then it could really blow up and get out of hand also,'' Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for former premier Benazir Bhutto, told Reuters.

The handling of the situation has damaged Musharraf's image at a time when he should be looking to improve his democratic credentials, but there is no real challenge to his leadership from within Pakistan's fractured polity.

''It is a part of the process of concentrating all powers in the hands of one individual, and history tells us that anyone who goes on unchecked and accumulating all powers, then the time comes when the bubble bursts,'' Babar said.

Newspaper columnists flayed the government for confining Chaudhary to his Islamabad residence, with police blocking most access to him, although the government denies he is under house arrest.

One of the chief justice's lawyers, Aitzaz Ahsan, said he had been stopped from seeing Chaudhary today.

''I went to Chief Justice's house but a battalion of police and two magistrates blocked me 50 yards away from his residence.

I also could not get in touch with him on telephone as that too has been disconnected,'' Ahsan said.

''This is a clear violation of the orders of the Supreme Judicial Council which has said that we should be allowed to meet him freely,'' he added.

Some news channels are reported to have been pressured by the authorities to tone down coverage of the protests by lawyers, after clashes with police on Monday.

Today, judges in Lahore joined lawyers in boycotting proceedings.

In the southern city of Karachi, lawyers formed a human chain in the Sindh High Court, demanding Chaudhary's reinstatement and withdrawal of all allegations against him.''

REUTERS

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