Hundreds of Pakistani lawyers and opposition activists launched a cross-country protest to demand the restoration of Supreme Court judges sacked two years ago.
Hundreds of black-suited Pakistani lawyers and flag-waving opposition activists launched a cross-country protest on Thursday to demand the restoration of Supreme Court judges sacked two years ago, ignoring both a police crackdown and the government plea on maintaining order during the stir. The year-old civilian coalition government scrambled for ways to avert a showdown. Simultaneously setting out from Karachi and Quetta, the lawyers will be joined by their counterparts from Lahore and will converge in the federal capital March 16 for a sit-in at the Constitution Avenue where parliament is situated.
Hundreds arrested
Police arrested hundreds of political activists and lawyers on Wednesday to thwart an anti government march on Thursday in the capital, saying it will not allow ‘the law of the jungle’ to cause instability. Authorities had allowed a group of several hundred lawyers and opposition activists to set off from downtown Karachi earlier, but stopped them as they tried to enter a highway leaving the city. The movement for an independent judiciary could destabilise President Asif Ali Zardari’s government at a time when the nuclear-armed US ally faces severe problems from Islamist militants and a sinking economy.
Nawaz fears for life
As the PPP-led government launched countrywide crackdown to derail a PML-N supported mass rally, Pakistan’s top Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has accused the government of plotting to kill him. Sharif said he had received “certain information about certain forces who are active against him. “Threats to my life come from high-ranking officials, certain topmost people in the government, my sources say,” the former premier said. “The risks are there. I can’t abandon my mission because of the risks. It’s a very noble cause. A mission to put the country back on the road to democracy,” he was quoted as saying by Guardian newspaper.
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