Suspended judge shrugs off Pakistan security alert

Islamabad, May 4: Pakistan's suspended top judge will go to Lahore by road tomorrow, undeterred by government warnings of bomb threats in the country, to rally support for his legal battle with President Pervez Musharraf.

The authorities today asked suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to go by air instead, because of ''credible threats'' of bomb attacks by Islamist militants in the wake of a suicide attack on Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao.

The minister escaped with bruises but the April 28 attack killed 28 people. It was the latest in a long line of attacks by Islamist militants infuriated by Musharraf's alliance with the United States.

''In view of the hazardous security situation in the country, we have requested the chief justice to travel by air instead of road,'' Syed Kamal Shah, permanent secretary at the Interior Ministry, told Reuters.

The judge's lawyers, however, suspected the warning was an attempt to disrupt Chaudhry's campaign to assert the independence of the judiciary in the fight against misconduct charges levelled by Musharraf two months ago.

''The chief justice will be going by road along with a large number of lawyers,'' said Aitzaz Ahsan, Chaudhry's top lawyer.

''It is the government's duty to take adequate measures for the security of the chief justice... the government is nervous and itself has designs to disturb the journey but we will not change our schedule.'' Chaudhry has already travelled to several cities and addressed bar councils after his suspension, but observers attach great importance to his visit to Lahore.

The city is Pakistan's political nerve centre, and a substantial turnout there in support of Chaudhry could give fresh impetus to the anti-Musharraf drive, observers say.

Election Year

Chaudhry's suspension on March 9 plunged Pakistan into a judicial crisis regarded as the most serious challenge to Musharraf's authority since he came to power following a military coup in 1999.

Lawyers and opposition activists in Pakistan's main cities have held protests whenever Chaudhry has appeared before a panel of judges, known as the Supreme Judicial Council, during the past few weeks.

The controversy has failed to ignite mass demonstrations so far, but it has hurt Musharraf's standing, and the judicial crisis comes at an awkward time.

Musharraf is due to seek re-election in September or October this year. Controversially, he aims to be re-elected by the current national and provincial assemblies before they are dissolved for elections the president says could take place around November.

There is also the question of whether Musharraf will meet a commitment to quit his role as army chief if he is to become president for a second term.

Analysts speculate Musharraf's main motive for seeking the independent-minded Chaudhry's removal is to have a more pliable chief justice in place if there are any constitutional challenges to his plans.

''A president in uniform and democracy cannot go together,'' self-exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto told reporters in Dubai.

Bhutto is keeping everyone guessing whether she will strike a deal that will allow her to come home for the elections in return for helping Musharraf secure a second term.

Reuters

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