Arrests, clashes mark Pakistan emergency protests (Roundup)

Nov 5, 2007, 12:52 GMT

Islamabad - Scores of lawyers were injured and detained as police cracked down on protest rallies across Pakistan on Monday amid sweeping rumours of a mutiny against President Pervez Musharraf days after his declaration of emergency rule in the country.

'The police harshly beat us up with the batons and more than a dozen lawyers were wounded,' lawyer Mudassir Ali told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa from the high court building in the Punjab provincial capital Lahore, where more than 2,000 lawyers had gathered.

The clashes erupted when the lawyers chanted slogans such as 'go Musharraf go' and 'military dictatorship unacceptable,' and tried to hold a rally on Mall Road, the main avenue in the city centre. But police fired several rounds of tear gas, leaving dozens of lawyers briefly unconscious.

Witnesses said they had seen many protesters being pushed into police vans and whisked away. Geo news channel claimed 500 had been arrested in Lahore.

City police chief Aftab Cheema confirmed the arrests without giving a number.

'We arrested them because they were violating a ban on public gathering of five or more than five people,' he said.

The clashes also occurred in the southern port city of Karachi, where dozens of lawyers were arrested when they tried to enter into the high court building, surrounded by hundreds of lawyers.

'Police beat us ruthlessly when we came to the Sindh High Court building in the morning and arrested a few dozen of our colleagues,' lawyer Akhtar Hussain said.

The legal fraternity boycotted the court proceedings across the country and similar rallies were also held in Rawalpindi and the capital city, Islamabad.

The demonstrations came a day after law enforcement agencies detained more than 1,600 opposition workers, rights activists and lawyers throughout the country for criticizing Musharraf's emergency move.

Musharraf, who took over in a bloodless military coup in 1999, partially suspended the country's constitution Saturday, curtailed civil rights and replaced top members of the judiciary who he saw as a threat to his rule.

But the judiciary remained defiant as the overwhelming majority of the Supreme Court and four high court judges did not take oath under a Provisional Constitutional Order that Musharraf promulgated in his capacity as army chief to replace the national constitution.

Fourteen judges in Islamabad were placed under house arrest on Monday as they had announced their intention to attend their offices in the Supreme Court building, which was sealed off by more than 2,000 security personnel.

All the linking roads around and neighbouring the president's office and parliament building were also cordoned off by security personnel who set up barbed wire barriers.

The country's major stock index meanwhile plunged in the afternoon amid rumours that Musharraf had been placed under house arrest in a military rebellion against him.

Investors at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) dumped shares, pulling the KSE-100 index down by more than 650 points or 4.7 per cent.

The rumours about the mutiny were promptly denied by the military.

'These are just baseless rumours. The situation is normal and President Musharraf is functioning as usual,' the military's chief spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told dpa.

The international community has reacted with sharp criticism of Musharraf's declaration of emergency and expressed concern over political turmoil in Pakistan, which is scheduled to hold national elections in January.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during her visit to Israel on Sunday her country would review its aid to Pakistan, taking into account the political situation and the need for funds for counter-terrorism measures.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in China that his country had postponed defence cooperation talks with Pakistan, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Islamabad, while calling the emergency rule in Pakistan 'disturbing.'

Amid mounting international pressure, Musharraf briefed more than 80 foreign diplomats, including those from the United States, Britain and Germany about his decision of emergency rule.

'The superior judiciary paralysed various organs of the state and created impediments in the fight against terrorism, which led to imposition of emergency,' official news agency Associated Press of Pakistan cited him as saying.

He was referring to the court's release of dozens of terrorist suspects, which were being illegally held by intelligence agencies for several years.

The statement came a day after Musharraf's government reportedly exchanged at least 29 terror suspects for 213 soldiers held captive by pro-Taliban militants for around two months in the country's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

On queries from diplomats the army general refused to give a time frame for the end to emergency rule and restoration of democracy, the private Online News Agency claimed.