ISLAMABAD, 13 March 2007 — Hundreds of lawyers were beaten up by police and security personnel outside the Supreme Court during a nationwide protest by lawyers yesterday against the sacking of the country’s top judge.
The protests, triggered by President Pervez Musharraf’s suspension Friday of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, led to clashes that left scores of lawyers injured.
A number of lawyers were wounded in the federal capital when police beat them up outside the top court building.
Advocates did not attend the Supreme Court while lawyers also boycotted courts in towns across central Punjab province. “It’s a complete boycott of the superior and lower courts by all lawyers,” Supreme Court Bar Association President Munir Malik said.
Scores of lawyers and an opposition lawmaker were injured in the turmoil in the eastern city of Lahore.
Witnesses said around 3,000 protesters chanting “Go Musharraf, go,” and “Down with Musharraf” dismantled barriers in an attempt to stage a sit-in on a main road outside the Lahore High Court building.
Police clashed with lawyers outside the court building after they tried to march down the city’s main road. Lawyers with bloodied heads were seen after police waded in among them, hitting out bamboo batons. Lawyers threw stones at police damaging some vehicles, witnesses said.
“We’ll not tolerate any insult to the judiciary,” the chairman of the Lahore Bar Association, Mohammad Shah, told Reuters after the clash.
Police moved in to break up the rally with truncheons and some 20 people were wounded, including Latif Khosa, a senator from the opposition Pakistan People’s Party and his son, said Bar Council President Mohammad Ahsan Dhoon.
Some policemen were injured as protesters pelted them with stones, police and witnesses said. “We condemn the police brutality against unarmed lawyers. This will not deter us and we will continue our protest against Musharraf’s illegal action,” Dhoon said.
The riot police, with helmets, padded protective gear and plastic shields, used their batons to hit some lawyers who were wearing smart black suits and white shirts. Lawyers in the northwestern city of Peshawar rallied in front of the provincial governor’s residence. Some carried placards reading: “Go Musharraf Go” and “Reinstate our honorable chief justice,” witnesses said.
In Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, some 500 lawyers wearing black armbands rallied outside the city courts. They blocked traffic and torched portraits of Musharraf before dispersing peacefully, witnesses said.
Asghar Khan, a former politician, who met the suspended chief justice told journalists Chaudhry was suspended when he refused to accept some conditions put by the government.
The Supreme Judicial Council, headed by the newly-inducted Chief Justice, Javed Iqbal, will take up the case today. Justice Chaudhry, who will be brought before the council this morning, has demanded an open trial, but Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani said the hearing will be behind closed doors.
Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan and newsmen made several attempts yesterday to meet Chaudhry, but were told the suspended chief justice was under house arrest.
Rights groups, opposition parties and lawyers have condemned the move by Musharraf as an assault on the independence of the judiciary. Musharraf says Chaudhry was abusing his position.
Chaudhry had been at loggerheads with the government ever since the Supreme Court overturned the sale of Pakistan’s state-run steel mills in June 2006.
Analysts say he also had a reputation for taking a firm stance on rights abuses and cases of missing people allegedly in government custody.
Chaudhry was to hear a number of very important cases including the NWFP government’s petition for more royalty from power generated by Tarbela Dam.
Aziz Leaves for Uzbekistan Today
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will leave on an official visit to Uzbekistan today from where he will proceed to US on a private visit. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is already in the US.
Pakistan Rejects US Report
The government yesterday rejected a US government report on human rights in the South Asian country, saying the American critique contained “inaccuracies and distortions.”
In its annual global report on human rights last week, the US State Department criticized Pakistan for poor treatment of its citizens, describing increasing cases of murder, rape and torture in country which is a close US ally in its fight against international terrorism.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that the US report was not objective and failed to acknowledge steps that Pakistan government has taken to improve human rights. “We have seen the report. It obviously lacks objectivity and contains inaccuracies and distortions,” ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.
