Pakistanis throng streets to greet suspended judge

PAKISTAN: Tens of thousands of Pakistanis waited through the night to greet the judge who defied President Pervez Musharraf as he inched towards the city of Lahore at the head of a caravan carrying supporters and media.

The cry of “Go, Musharraf go” rang out as Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry crossed the bridge over the River Ravi on the city’s outskirts early on Sunday, more than 20 hours after setting out from the capital, Islamabad.

Lahore is considered Pakistan’s political nerve centre and Chaudhry’s reception there is seen as a test of his backing.

Well-wishers clambered over his four-wheel-drive car, a familiar sight throughout the judge’s marathon journey from the capital.

As the sun rose over the suburbs of Lahore, it revealed the scale of support for the judge Musharraf charged with misconduct.

People lined the streets and peered from flyovers to glimpse the man who has been transformed into a symbol of resistance since his suspension two month ago plunged the country into a judicial crisis.

“We are here to save the institution. This is an injustice,” said Humayun, a bearded farmer in a skull cap.

The forty-year-old from the city of Rawalpindi had travelled in one of the 200 vehicles accompanying Chaudhry from Islamabad.

The size of the procession swelled as it approached Lahore. Huge crowds, waving flags of opposition groups and chanting anti-Musharraf slogans, took to the roads.

The legal community and opposition see Musharraf’s move to sack Chaudhry as an attack on the independence of the judiciary.

The rally in Lahore is the biggest opposition show of strength since Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup 7-½.years ago.

Gulzar, a 60-year-old with a white beard, said he had not seen such a big rally since the 1980s.

Musharraf, speaking at a rally in Sindh province on Saturday, accused lawyers of “politicising” a judicial matter by holding protests.

“I warn the lawyers that they will not succeed in their designs ... I ask the lawyers to shun politics,” he said. Meanwhile urged lawyers to continue their fight to uphold the independence of the judiciary.

“It is my request to you that you should forge unity among your ranks. This is your responsibility to strive for the supremacy and rule of law,” Chaudhry said from the city of Gujrat.

Chaudhry’s attorney, Munir A. Malik, said a “court of masses” had delivered a verdict in favor of the chief justice and said he hoped a panel of judges hearing charges would also find him innocent.

Meanwhile Pakistani police detained hundreds of opposition workers to prevent them from joining a rally in support of chaudhry,activists said Saturday.

Opposition parties said police had raided the homes of their workers and detained hundreds ahead of the planned rally for Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Officials said police had blocked roads to prevent Chaudhry’s supporters from joining his caravan.

Lahove, Sunday, Reuters, AP, AFP