Pakistani lawyers to press government
Pakistani lawyers were set to launch protests on Thursday pressing the government to reinstate judges purged by former president Pervez Musharraf, as militants attacked police in the northwest, killing 11 people.
BP Alaska president blasts state business climateDisagreement over the judges led to a split in the ruling coalition this week, dashing hopes for political stability in the nuclear-armed country after Musharraf's resignation last week.
Political uncertainty, militant violence and economic woes have undermined investor confidence, leading to a sharp slide in Pakistan stocks which authorities have tried to halt by setting a floor for the key share index.
Protesting lawyers are due to hold sit-ins on roads across the country on Thursday to press the coalition, led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, to reappoint dozens of judges Musharraf dismissed when he imposed emergency rule last November.
Lawyers were at the forefront of opposition to Musharraf after the former army chief clashed with the then chief justice in March last year, and their protests pose a challenge to the coalition that came to power after February elections.
"There was a subversion of the constitution on November 3 and that is what people are protesting against," said lawyer Athar Minullah, an aide to former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
"We are committed to the supremacy of the constitution and this will continue until the actions of November 3 are reversed," he said of the protest campaign.
The country's second biggest party, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, pulled out of the coalition on Monday, saying Bhutto's party broke promises to give the judges their jobs back.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, led by her widower Asif Ali Zardari, has been dragging its feet on the judges because it fears Chaudhry will take up a challenge to an amnesty granted to Zardari and other party leaders from graft charges last year, analysts say.
POLICE BUS BLOWN UP
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