Reuters AlertNet Lite - Violence erupts over Pakistan's top judge, 27 dead

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Violence erupts over Pakistan's top judge, 27 dead

12 May 2007 18:26:21 GMT
Source: Reuters

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Medics tend to a wounded man after clashes between rival political activists in Karachi May 12, 2007. Fifteen people were killed in Karachi on Saturday in clashes between pro-government and opposition activists, the worst political violence in Pakistan in years, as the suspended top judge arrived to meet supporters.
Reuters/ZAHID HUSSEIN

(Updates with comment from Musharraf)

By Aamir Ashraf

KARACHI, May 12 (Reuters) - Twenty-seven people were killed and 100 wounded in Karachi on Saturday in clashes between pro-government and opposition activists as Pakistan's suspended top judge tried to hold a rally with his supporters.

The suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9 has outraged the judiciary and the opposition and has blown up into the most serious challenge to President Pervez Musharraf's authority since he seized power in 1999.

In the worst political clashes in Pakistan for years, heavy gunfire erupted in several parts of Karachi as gunmen battled and smoke billowed from more than 100 burning vehicles.

Musharraf, speaking to a rally of tens of thousands in Islamabad, condemned the violence but ruled out declaring a state of emergency saying the people were with him.

Opposition leaders said Karachi was under siege by supporters of the pro-government Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which runs Pakistan's biggest city.

Saturday was declared a public holiday in Karachi and normal traffic was largely absent from the streets, where thousands of paramilitary troops and police were on patrol.

Many roads, including the one from the airport, were blocked by trucks, buses and shipping containers overnight in an apparent bid to disrupt Chaudhry's visit to the capital of Sindh province.

"It is state-sponsored terrorism. The Sindh government is responsible but we are not going to back off," said Sherry Rehman, a spokeswoman for the opposition Pakistani People's Party (PPP) of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

Provincial government officials had warned of violence in the volatile city and appealed to Chaudhry to postpone his trip.

Nevertheless, he flew in from Islamabad but was unable to leave the airport because of the road blocks and violence. He later flew back to Islamabad after the provincial government ordered the lawyers accompanying him to leave the province.

Chaudhry denies wrongdoing and has refused to resign in the face of charges of misconduct. His visit to Karachi was meant to be the latest in a series of protests by the opposition and lawyers to press for his reinstatement.

ACTIVISTS CLASH

MQM activists clashed with members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an opposition alliance of religious parties, and the PPP in several parts of Karachi, which has for years been riven by bloody political feuding.

Television showed pictures of men with AK-47 assault rifles firing from behind cars. A man with a neck wound was shown crying in a bus, another wounded man lay in a pool of blood.

Private Aaj Television said its office had come under fire and police said sporadic firing was still going on after dark.

"The death toll has risen to 27 and we have about 100 wounded," said Waseem Akhtar, the top Sindh Interior Ministry official.

The crisis coincides with the run-up to a general election and an attempt by Musharraf, a U.S. ally, to secure another term.

Musharraf, the army chief who seized power in a 1999 coup, wants to be re-elected by the national and provincial assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election around the end of the year.

Analysts say his main motive in seeking the removal of the independent-minded Chaudhry is to have a more pliable man in place in case of a constitutional challenge to his plans.

Earlier on Saturday, several thousand MQM activists surrounded the High Court where Chaudhry had planned to meet Karachi lawyers. They chanted slogans and beat several lawyers trying to get in.

Musharraf said those fighting for the independence of the judiciary were creating chaos.

"They ignored the government's advice not to go to Karachi," he told the Islamabad rally, adding those confronting the will of the people would be crushed.

He repeated a call for Chaudhry's case to be settled by the Supreme Court, not on the streets.

The crowd in Islamabad appeared subdued. Some people began leaving before Musharraf had finished speaking, witnesses said. (Additional reporting by Faisal Aziz, Kamran Haider, Imtiaz Shah in KARACHI and Augustine Anthony in ISLAMABAD)

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Last updated:Sat May 12 18:28:41 2007