Protesting lawyers demand release of top Pakistan judge

Last Updated: Thursday, January 24, 2008 | 5:17 PM ET

CBC News

Hundreds of lawyers demonstrated in the streets of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, Thursday to press for the release of the Supreme Court's former chief justice from house arrest.

Dressed in black suits and ties, the lawyers chanted anti-government slogans as they tried to reach the home of the fired jurist, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.

Police fired tear gas and charged protesters with bamboo rods to disperse them.

Chaudhry has been under house arrest since Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf enacted emergency rule on Nov. 3 and purged the Supreme Court of independent-minded judges.

Lawyers have been at the forefront of protests over the past months against Musharraf's suspension of the constitution.

But the last time lawyers gathered for an anti-government rally, in Lahore several weeks ago, it turned deadly when a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing 20 police officers and injuring dozens more.

Lawyer Shah Khawar, who was at Thursday's protest, blamed Musharraf for many of the country's problems.

"No one is safe," he said. "When there is a free election, all the militancy will stop."

The likelihood that the Feb. 18 general election will be free and fair, though, is in doubt.

Cricket legend and popular opposition politician Imran Khan on Thursday said that without an independent judiciary able to supervise the vote, he expects "massive rigging." His party, Tehrik-e-Insaaf, plans to boycott the election, he said.

Politician compares situation to Kenya

He urged the United States to push for Musharraf to reinstate independent judges.

"Any other way, the situation is going to get worse," Khan said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

Khan predicted a "Kenya-type situation," referring to the way that country's disputed Dec. 27 presidential vote erupted into nationwide violence that left hundreds dead and tens of thousands displaced.

In Pakistan, riots broke out when opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last month. The riots left at least 40 dead and billions of dollars in damage.

Bhutto had returned to the country after eight years of self-imposed exile to run in the elections.

Her 19-year-old son, Bilawal Bhutto, was appointed chairman of her party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), with her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, named as co-chairman.