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Pakistani Police Attack Lawyers, Reporters
Police tear-gassed protesters at the Supreme Court in Islamabad a day after it ruled that Gen. Pervez Musharraf could run for another presidential term.
(By John Moore -- Getty Images)
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"Except for the blind Americans and British, everyone sees this as a farce," said Aitzaz Ahsan, a top opposition lawyer. "The people of Pakistan are being deprived of their right to choose the president of Pakistan."
Ahsan, who led the legal fight to restore Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry after Musharraf tried to fire him earlier this year, was beaten by police Saturday. "I didn't do anything to provoke them. But they targeted me," Ahsan said.
Musharraf will face another legal challenge next week, and opponents have vowed to resign from the assemblies Tuesday to further erode the credibility of the election. But anti-Musharraf leaders concede that mobilizing the public is their best hope for ousting the general.
Although Musharraf is unpopular in Pakistan, opponents have struggled to broaden the lawyers' movement and bring ordinary people into the streets to protest his rule. The opposition parties have been badly disorganized and unable to settle on a strategy. Meanwhile, the government has taken elaborate steps to block large demonstrations, including preemptively arresting hundreds of anti-Musharraf activists.
But lawyer Ali Ahmed Kurd indicated that Saturday's clash could be a turning point.
"We are actually at war," he said. "On one side are the 160 million people of Pakistan, the civil society, the journalists and the legal fraternity. On the other side is only one general, who is a military dictator."
Special correspondent Shahzad Khurram contributed to this report.
