Pakistani lawyers, police clash over judge
Source: Reuters
(Recasts, adds prime minister visits TV office, police suspended) By Sil Khan LAHORE, Pakistan, March 17 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Pakistani lawyers in business suits hurled stones at police on Saturday after officers fired teargas to disrupt a meeting at Lahore's High Court to protest moves to sack the country's top judge. The second day of clashes between police and lawyers over the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary on March 9 prompted President Pervez Musharraf to say conspirators were stirring up trouble. The bid to get rid of Chaudhary has outraged lawyers and united disparate opposition parties against Musharraf who looks set to seek another term late this year. Chaudhary's suspension fuelled suspicions that Musharraf feared the independent-minded judge would oppose any move by him to retain his role as army chief, which constitutionally the president should relinquish this year. Saturday's unrest began when police fired teargas outside the court and hit out with batons to stop a group of lawyers getting to the meeting, witnesses said. Suited lawyers poured out of the meeting and hurled stones at police who threw them back. Police chasing stone-throwers ransacked nearby offices. "It's outrageous. I can't understand why they are doing this," said Syed Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari, secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association. "It seems some invisible hand is trying to create chaos." Dozens of lawyers and policemen were hurt and police beat at least two reporters, witnesses said. Peaceful protests were held in several other cites. Chaudhary has also taken up human rights cases and had called on authorities to account for people who disappeared after being taken into custody. On Friday police had fired teargas and rubber bullets, detained numerous people and ransacked a television station during protests by lawyers and opposition supporters in Islamabad. Newspapers said the disturbances had damaged the government's credibility and the action against the judiciary and the media boded ill for upcoming elections. International rights and media groups condemned the police action. But Musharraf told a rally that plotters trying to heap blame on him were behind the raid on the television station. A U.S. State Department spokesman called on Friday for both sides to show restraint. The United States sees Musharraf as a vital ally in the war on terrorism. "CONSPIRACY" Chaudhary has refused to resign and had been confined to his home with police blocking almost all access to him. He has made two appearances before a panel of judges considering the case against him. The panel on Friday ordered restrictions on him lifted and one of his lawyers said he was now free to meet anyone. The government denied he had ever been under house arrest. Authorities have released no details of the accusations against Chaudhary but a state news agency cited "misconduct and misuse of authority". Musharraf telephoned the Geo television station on Friday to condemn the raid on its office and to apologise. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited the damaged offices and police said 14 policemen had been suspended over the incident. Musharraf said the raid was part of a conspiracy. "There is a conspiracy going on and it has to be traced. Who is hatching this conspiracy so everything is put on me?" he told a rally, referring to the raid. Musharraf, accused of acting unconstitutionally in trying to sack Chaudhary, said he would not interfere with the judicial panel, which meets again on March 21. (Additional reporting by Robert Birsel, Augustine Anthony and Kamran Haider)
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