ISLAMABAD, 30 September 2007 — Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf picked up another legal victory yesterday as the Election Commission approved Musharraf’s nomination for a presidential election while police fired tear gas at lawyers and journalists, and beat them with batons.
A day after the Supreme Court dismissed several petitions challenging Musharraf’s pursuit of a new five-year term, the Election Commission approved his candidacy, sparking angry condemnation from protesting lawyers.
Police fired tear gas and used batons first to disperse the lawyers, then turned on journalists covering the chaotic clashes. Around three dozen people were injured and a similar number arrested outside the Election Commission building here and in separate rallies in Lahore.
“The other candidates raised objections to Musharraf’s nomination but they were not accepted,” commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad told AFP.
Chanting “Go Musharraf, go!” around 900 lawyers tried to approach the commission from the nearby Supreme Court but riot police with shields and helmets blocked their way and scuffles broke out.
Federal State Information Minister Tariq Azim was also caught up in the melee, receiving a few punches from protesters before being bundled into a car by aides and driven away.
Aitzaz Ahsan, the main lawyer for Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry during Chaudhry’s battle against Musharraf’s attempts to sack him earlier this year, was among those beaten.
“The brutality of Gen. Musharraf is being seen worldwide. Only the blind governments of the United States and Britain cannot see it,” Ahsan told AFP.
Three of the country’s biggest private news channels, Geo, Aaj and ARY One, said that the government had taken them off air during the protests to stop them showing the violence.
Opposition lawyer Tariq Mahmood said Musharraf’s nomination would be challenged in the Supreme Court tomorrow, when lawyers will also observe a complete strike throughout the country.
Despite dwindling popularity and increasingly bitter opposition, Musharraf, a close US ally, also seems set to win the election.
The ruling coalition says it has the numbers it needs, and even the general’s main challenger, retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed, has admitted he doesn’t have much of a chance.
The Election Commission approved only six of the 43 candidates, including Ahmed, who was nominated by lawyers, and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, vice chairman of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party. Fahim’s party earlier said he would only run if Musharraf were disqualified.
The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) after a daylong session at the residence of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced a three-pronged strategy to foil Musharraf’s bid for re-election.
The meeting was chaired by chairman of Pakistan Muslim League (N) Raja Zafarul Haq and attended by heads of all APDM parties including Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Imran Khan.
At the meeting, 84 members of the National Assembly and 154 members of provincial assemblies handed over their resignations to their party heads which will be handed over to the respective speakers of assemblies.
On Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed petitions filed by opposition parties and lawyers arguing that Musharraf was ineligible to run because he was still army chief. The ruling triggered jubilation in the government and anger among the opposition, which vowed not to give up.
— With input from agencies
