Suspended judge taps support in Pak heartland

Chakwal (Pakistan), June 17: Pakistan's suspended chief justice travelled into the Pakistani heartland today to a tumultuous welcome from opposition supporters now posing a growing challenge to President Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf's suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9 has whipped up an anti-government campaign, uniting lawyers defending the independence of the judiciary and opposition parties eyeing elections due by the turn of the year.

Chaudhry was scheduled to deliver an address to lawyers, but his convoy of dozens of vehicles had all the hallmarks of an opposition roadshow.

Accompanied by lawyers and opposition supporters waving flags from their cars, Chaudhry made several stops in sun-baked Punjab farming towns as they headed for the textile city of Faisalabad where he was due to address the legal fraternity.

Thousands of opposition supporters lined roads and threw rose petals as Chaudhry's caravan inched its way through towns.

Chaudhry, who is fighting for reinstatement through the Supreme Court, has steered clear of party politics since he was suspended, and has avoided media interviews.

Though Chaudhry is accused of misconduct, analysts believe Musharraf wanted him out because he feared the judge would allow constitutional challenges against his plans to be re-elected by the current assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election.

Chaudhry's chief lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, met US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher earlier this week, but Boucher and other US officials have said only that they hope the judicial crisis can be resolved through the courts.

Treading Fine Line

In previous addresses to lawyers Chaudhry has warned of the dangers of dictatorship and the centralisation of power, without mentioning Musharraf, the army chief who seized power of nuclear-armed Pakistan in 1999 and became a major US ally in the war on terrorism.

The judge's supporters have been vociferous, however, in calling for an end to military rule in a country which has been run by generals for more than half the 60 years since its formation following the partition of the Sub-Continent.

''Musharraf says Benazir and Nawaz Sharif will not come back,'' Zumard Khan, an opposition member of parliament, told a crowd, referring to former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, both of whom are in exile.

''But I'm telling you, they will both come back soon and be with the people of Pakistan. No one can stop them,'' he told several hundred people during a quick stop on a road through rolling green and yellow fields.

The opposition campaign is the most serious challenge to Musharraf just months before he plans to get re-elected for a second five year term.

Musharraf has dismissed speculation he might impose a state of emergency to end the agitation against him and he has vowed that presidential and general elections will be held on time.

But the opposition is demanding he gives up his post of army chief.

The lawyers campaigning for Chaudhry's reinstatement and their opposition allies appear to have tapped into general resentment of Musharraf and his government, which mostly seems to be result of rising prices.

''No one likes him,'' one man said of Musharraf, speaking through a mouthful of betel nut. ''You can't afford anything, everything is expensive,'' he said.

''We want everyone to know we don't like this military junta,'' said Chicken farmer Jahangir Magwal. ''There should be free elections under an independent election commissioner.''

Reuters

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