Pak political parties demo on Chaudhry's removal

Islamabad, Mar 26: Thousands of people as well as political activists and lawyers today held rallies across Pakistan in protest against the sacking of country's top Judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by President Pervez Musharraf on March 9.

The protest call was given by the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), which mainly comprises the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League of former exiled Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawa Sharif. The six-party Islamic Opposition alliance, Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) also joined the ARD in the protest.

Major protest rallies were held in Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore and Karachi where top Opposition leaders, including MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad, PPP leaders Raja Pervez Ashraf, Shah Mehmud Qureshi, Naheed Khan and Ghulam Mustafa Khar, led rallies and demanded the President's resignation.

In Lahore, more than 5,000 people attended the rally whereas 3,000 people in Quetta and 1,000 in Peshawar expressed solidarity with the lawyers community and the suspended Chief Justice, who is facing a presidential reference for misconduct and misuse of authority.

He is to appear before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), now headed by Justice Rana Bhagwandas, for the third time on April 3.

Justice Bhagwandas, who was in India on leave, took over as the acting chief judge last Saturday.

The Opposition leaders today demanded the resignation of President Musharraf and free and fair elections under a neutral caretaker government, besides independent election commission of Pakistan.

Rallies came a day after local authorities in Punjab and other provinces picked up more than 500 activists of major political parties in a bid to prevent the Opposition's protest call.

Faced with the toughest challenge to his seven-year rule, Mr Musharraf had last night met ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) legislators and Ministers to discuss strategy to deal with Opposition's protests.

President Musharraf asked authorities not to allow "vested interests" to get any political mileage out of a purely constitutional matter.

An official statement issued after the meeting quoted the President as saying that all provisions of the constitution were strictly observed by the government while filing a reference in respect of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

"The government is committed to upholding sanctity and supremacy of the law, and will accept whatever verdict is given by the Supreme Judicial Council, he said.

The President said the government was confident of and committed to ensuring peace and tranquility in the country.

UNI

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