Pakistani lawyers clash with police as Musharraf vote starts

PESHAWAR: Pakistani police clashed with protesting lawyers in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday as lawmakers began voting in a disputed presidential election, witnesses said.   

Some 300 lawyers burned an effigy of key US ally President Pervez Musharraf and chanted 'Go, Musharraf, go!' near the regional parliament in the city, the capital of conservative North West Frontier Province.   

Witnesses said protesters tried to set fire to a police armoured vehicle and threw stones. Police then used batons to disperse the lawyers.   

Security was high across the country as MPs voted in Islamabad and in the provincial capitals of Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.