Pakistan Police Clash With Lawyers

By MUNIR AHMAD

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Legions of baton-wielding police clashed with lawyers to squash protests against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Monday, while international pressure mounted against the imposition of emergency powers that have led to more than 1,500 arrests.

Musharraf suspended the constitution on Saturday ahead of a Supreme Court ruling that could have floored his re-election as president. He ousted independent-minded judges and granted sweeping powers to authorities to crush dissent, flinging Pakistan deeper into crisis.

The United States and other nations who count Musharraf as a key ally in fighting al-Qaida and Taliban militants, urged him against taking authoritarian measures, but the military leader said it was needed to counter a growing militant Islamic movement and a court system that hindered his powers.

Musharraf briefed foreign ambassadors Monday, saying the "superior judiciary paralyzed various organs of the state and created impediments in the fight against terrorism," state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Musharraf, however, reiterated that he would complete the transition to democracy. His government said Sunday parliamentary elections could be delayed up to a year.

Since late Saturday, between 1,500 and 1,800 people have been detained nationwide, an Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. They include opposition leaders, lawyers and human rights activists who might mobilize protests.

The U.N.’s top human rights official, Louise Arbour, urged Pakistan not to detain individuals "for the peaceful exercise of their political beliefs," her spokesman Jose Diaz said.

Lawyers attempted to stage rallies in major cities on Monday, but were beaten and arrested.

In the biggest gathering, about 2,000 lawyers congregated at the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore. As lawyers tried to exit onto a main road, hundreds of police stormed inside, swinging batons and firing tear gas. Lawyers, shouting "Go Musharraf Go!" responded by throwing stones and beating police with tree branches.

Police bundled about 250 lawyers into waiting vans, an Associated Press reporter saw. At least two were bleeding from the head.

Aftab Cheema, the city police chief, said lawyers started the trouble by throwing stones. However, Sarfraz Cheema, a senior lawyer at the rally, condemned it as police brutality that "shows how the government of a dictator wants to silence those who are against dictatorship."

"We don’t accept the proclamation of emergency," he said.

Clashes also were reported in Karachi, where 100 lawyers were arrested, and in Rawalpindi, where at least 50 were detained. In Multan, dozens of lawyers chased a car bringing two newly appointed judges to the high court, chanting "Shame on you!" and "Traitor judges!"

Alarmed about the unfolding crisis, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington was reviewing its aid to nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has received about $11 billion from the U.S. since it became a close ally in fighting terrorism in 2001. Britain also said it was examining its assistance.

"Some of the aid that goes to Pakistan is directly related to the counterterrorism mission," Rice told reporters on a trip to the Middle East. "We just have to review the situation."

But Rice said she did not expect the U.S. "to ignore or set aside our concerns about terrorism."

The U.S. Embassy said Monday that a U.S.-Pakistan defense cooperation meeting planned for this week had been postponed amid the current uncertainty in Pakistan.

The crackdown on dissent came despite comments Sunday by Deputy Information Minister Azim that protests would be tolerated. "We hope if there are any protests they would be peaceful. So long as there is no violence I don’t see any problem in that at all," he told The Associated Press.

Lawyers were the driving force behind protests earlier this year against the U.S.-allied military leader when he made a failed attempt to fire the independent-minded chief justice. The move tarnished Musharraf’s standing and spawned a pro-democracy movement that threatened to end his eight-year rule.

Musharraf finally removed the judge, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, on Saturday, just as the court was preparing to rule on whether the military chief’s recent re-election as president was legal.

As well as calling for protests, lawyers’ groups have vowed to boycott all court proceedings held in front of new judges sworn by Musharraf.

Rana Bhagwandas, a Supreme Court judge who refused to take oath under Musharraf’s proclamation of emergency orders, said he has been locked inside his official residence in Islamabad and that other judges were being pressured to support the government.

"They are still working on some judges, they are under pressure," Bhagwandas told Geo TV in a phone interview.

The government on Monday continued blocking transmission of all television news networks other than state-controlled Pakistan TV, but some networks could still be viewed by satellite.

Police raided and sealed a printing press in Karachi belonging to Pakistan’s largest media group, blocking publication of its Urdu-language evening newspaper, Awam, or People, Jang Group Editor Mahmood Sham said.

Critics say Musharraf, a 1999 coup leader who had promised to give up his army post and become a civilian president this year, imposed emergency rule in a last-ditch attempt to cling to power.

Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said Sunday that a new panel of Supreme Court judges would rule "as early as possible" on Musharraf’s eligibility for a new five-year presidential term.

He also said Musharraf remained committed to his pledge to take off his uniform and restore civilian rule before he is sworn in again as president.

Musharraf’s leadership also had been threatened by the reemergence of political rival and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.

Bhutto was expected to travel on Monday to Islamabad, where she said she would seek talks with other opposition leaders on how to counter Musharraf’s move.

Bhutto, who narrowly escaped assassination in an Oct. 18 suicide bombing in Karachi that killed 145 others and was widely blamed on Muslim extremists, scoffed at claims that Musharraf imposed the emergency measures to fight militants.

She said many people believe the emergency was aimed at "stopping a court verdict that was coming against him," she told the weekend edition of ABC News’ "Good Morning America."

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Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad, Ashraf Khan in Karachi, Khalid Tanweer in Multan and Zia Khan in Lahore contributed to this report.