Pro-Democracy rumblings in Pakistan: Should Musharraf - and Bush - be worried
Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani army general who stole his country's government in a 1999 coup, and has ruled dictatorially since then as its "president general," has been no friend of democracy.
Still, that hasn't stopped "democracy"-exporting Team Bush from showering Musharraf's regime with billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars for its unspecified role in the so-called war on terror. (To date, no one in Washington has indicated just what Americans may have gotten for their investment.)
Mian Khursheed/Reuters
Suspended Pakistani High Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry greeted lawyers who support him as he set off from Islamabad for Lahore this past weekend
Now, Musharraf is wrestling with the kind of annoying problem that tends to emerge whenever abusers of democratic institutions and the rule of law act on their drunk-with-power whims. Several weeks ago, the "president general" fired Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the chief justice of Pakistan's High Court. His reason for the sacking: As the BBC reports, "It has been alleged that...Chaudhry illegally used his position in an attempt to procure a top police job for his son." Still, Chaudhry, "who became chief justice in 2005, has earned a reputation for challenging human-rights abuses and government wrongdoing," and is considered a popular public official.
Witness for Pakistan's suspended judge shot dead
Pakistan's suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry (L) comforts Shadana Raza (C), the widow of Syed Hammad Raza, at her residence in Islamabad May 14, 2007. Gunmen shot dead Raza, regarded as a key witness by the legal team representing Chaudhry in his fight against a move by President Pervez Musharraf to sack him. REUTERS/Mian Khursheed
Witness for Pakistan's suspended judge shot dead
ISLAMABAD (Reuters)
Mon May 14, 2007 5:47 PM IST
Gunmen shot dead on Monday a Supreme Court official, regarded as a key witness by the legal team representing Pakistan's suspended chief justice in his fight against a move by President Pervez Musharraf to sack him.
Syed Hammad Raza, an additional registrar of the Supreme Court, was shot at point-blank range by two or three gunmen just before dawn at his home in the capital, Islamabad, police and relatives said.
"He was an important person in our case," Munir Ahmed Malik, a lawyer on suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's legal team, told Reuters.
Chaudhry has been at the centre of a judicial and political crisis since President Pervez Musharraf moved to sack him two months ago over undisclosed allegations of misconduct.
Pakistan's worst political street violence in two decades
Pakistani policemen stand next to closed shops during a strike in Lahore May 14, 2007. A Pakistani opposition strike virtually shut down Karachi and other major cities on Monday after nearly 40 people were killed and about 150 wounded in Pakistan's worst political street violence in two decades. REUTERS/Mohsin Raza
Pakistani cities virtually shut down by strike
By Kamran Haider
Mon May 14, 2007 8:56 PM IST
KARACHI (Reuters)
A Pakistani opposition strike virtually shut down Karachi and other major cities on Monday after nearly 40 people were killed and about 150 wounded in Pakistan's worst political street violence in two decades.
No comments:
Post a Comment