Several injured in Pakistan protest over CJ sacking

PAKISTAN: Several people were injured in another day of angry scuffles outside Pakistan’s heavily guarded Supreme Court on Thursday in the latest protest over the sacking of the country’s chief judge.

Police said dozens of lawyers, marching in support of ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, ignored warnings not to try to enter the building, where he was appearing before a judicial panel, and clashed with police.

“Lawyers attacked us with sticks and we had to retaliate,” officer Mehboob Ahmed said. Witnesses said five policemen and several of the hundreds of protesters massed outside were injured.

Police also tried to stop journalists from entering the court premises but later allowed them after some scuffles.

Protests have been held whenever the judge appears at the court, and hundreds of opposition activists have been detained by police to keep them away from the demonstrations.

Protesters chanted “Go Musharraf, go!” and “Give a final push to the crumbling wall.”

“We want restoration of the chief justice, we will fight for it till the end,” said Malik Aamir, an activist of the left-wing Awami National Party.

“We will come here whenever the hearing is held,” he told AFP.

Liaquat Baluch, a senior leader of the fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami party, vowed that the protest would continue until the independence of the judiciary was restored.

“The judiciary is under siege, we are making efforts to liberate it,” he said as party workers waving green and white flags chanted “Allah-o-Akbar (God is the greatest).”

Among the misconduct charges against Chaudhry being investigated by the panel is that he illegally used his position to secure a top police job for his son — a charge the judge has denied.

Musharraf says he sacked Chaudhry as part of efforts to tackle corruption.

Chaudhry’s defence lawyers were expected to conclude their arguments before the panel later in the day. The government lawyers will then respond to the defence lawyers.

Lawyers in the eastern city of Lahore boycotted courts and staged a protest sit-in outside the provincial parliament..

Earlier Police strung barbed wire and parked trucks to block all main roads into Pakistan’s capital ahead of Thursday’s hearing on a case against the country’s ousted chief justice.

Ahead of Thursday’s rally, police used barbed wire, shipping containers and private trucks to block main routes including Faizabad Road, which links the capital, Islamabad, with the nearby city of Rawalpindi.

Despite the blockades, hundreds greeted the ousted judge as he arrived at the Supreme Court in Islamabad to face charges against him. “We are with you! You are our chief justice,” the demonstrators chanted.

Islamabad, Thursday, AFP, AP