A senior leader of the Jamat-i-Islami, Maulana Asadullah sustained head injured when he was hit by a stone while he was pacifying his supporters.
ISLAMABAD: An opposition lawmaker was among a dozen people injured when police clashed with hundreds of protesters who had gathered in support of Pakistan's suspended Chief Justice outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday as a judicial panel rejected a plea to halt hearings against him.
Tension prevailed outside the Supreme Court as suspended Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry arrived for the hearing before the Supreme Judicial Council at the Supreme Court complex located next to the Parliament building.
Skirmishes between police and protesters erupted on several occasions during the day. A senior leader of the Jamat-i-Islami, Maulana Asadullah, also a member of Parliament, sustained head injured when he was hit by a stone while he was pacifying his supporters during a clash between Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA) activists and police. Several others were also wounded.
Police prevented Pakistan Peoples Party, (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-N, (PML-N) workers from taking a water tanker along with their procession and baton charged the protesters. The two sides later pelted stones at each other.
Both the moderate opposition parties and the Islamist MMA mobilised workers in big way to express solidarity with Chaudhry, as they have been doing every time he appeared before the panel after his suspension on March nine.
As the clashes continued outside, the SJC headed by Acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas rejected the plea by Chaudhry's lawyers that the trial should be put off until a five-judge bench hearing Chaudhury's petition decides the case and put off the hearing till Thursday.
Chaudhry's lawyers argued that in his petition to the Supreme Court, he had questioned the legality of President Pervez Musharraf's reference of allegations of misconduct and misuse of powers against him as well as the locus standi of SJC to conduct trial against him.
They wanted the trial be put off until the apex court bench, appointed by Das himself, decides on the case.
Chaudhry's lawyers while reposing faith in the apex court, which will resume its hearings on May seven, said its rulings are binding whereas SJC was only a tribunal whose
findings were not binding.
The SJC, however, rejected his plea and put off the hearing of the trial till tomorrow, Chaudhry's lawyer retired justice Tariq Mehmood said.
Besides questioning the legality of the trial, Chaudhry's petition also accused three of the five judges of the SJC of nurturing bias against him.
The suspension of the Chief Justice had sparked demonstrations in the country's key urban centres. While Awami National Party, (ANP) and Terik-e-Insaf party headed by
cricketer turned politician Imran Khan took part in the rally, several poets and intellectuals also joined the protests today.
Led by prominent Pakistani Urdu poet, Ahmad Faraz several poets and scholars took part the protests outside the court.
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