Police separate pro and anti-Musharraf activists
Pakistani police separated supporters and opponents of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as the two sides held rival rallies in Islamabad today during a hearing on a top judge’s contentious suspension.
Lawyers and opposition activists have organised several protests since Gen Musharraf removed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry on March 9, triggering a political crisis that is testing the president’s hold on power.
The government insists it suspended Mr Chaudhry only after receiving credible complaints that he had abused his office – for example, by using his position to seek a police job for his son.
However, critics accuse the government of trying to oust an independent-minded judge ahead of possible legal challenges to Gen. Musharraf’s continued rule.
Mr Chaudhry has denied the charges, and vowed to fight for his job.
About 600 supporters of the ruling PML-Q party joined the fray for the first time today, marching from their party headquarters towards a court in the centre of the government district of Islamabad.
They stopped at one end of a broad road leading to Parliament, where police had laid coils of barbed wire across the tarmac. About 1,000 opposition activists and lawyers massed near an identical barrier about 200 yards away.
Hundreds of riot police lined up to prevent anyone from climbing over the wire or sneaking around it.
