Musharraf's foes rally against ouster

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - About 4,000 opponents of President Pervez Musharraf rallied in Islamabad yesterday in the capital's biggest street demonstration yet against his removal of Pakistan's chief justice.

The demonstration by political activists and lawyers outside the Supreme Court during a hearing in the judge's case remained largely peaceful, but was a sign of the mounting pressure on Musharraf to curtail eight years of military rule.

"Everyone should support the chief justice, it is our moral duty," Makhdoom Amin Fahim, vice president of the main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, told the crowd. "Everyone should also help us get rid of President Musharraf, who is the root cause of every problem."

Thousands more attended rallies in Lahore, Karachi and Quetta.

Musharraf triggered the biggest political crisis of his presidency when he suspended independent-minded Chief Justice Ifitkhar Mohammed Chaudhry on March 9. The government says it acted after receiving allegations that Chaudhry had abused his position - for instance, by seeking favors for his son.

However, Musharraf's critics denounce what they say was a plot to intimidate the court and ensure it did not stand in the way of an expected bid from the president, a key U.S. ally in Washington's war against international terrorism, to secure another term.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack yesterday urged the Pakistani government to resolve the issue of the ousted judge "in an open, transparent manner" within the confines of Pakistani law and the country's constitution. He also said the United States encouraged Pakistan to continue down the democratic path.

The United States and European Union have both expressed concern about the implications of the judicial standoff for parliamentary elections due at the end of the year. Musharraf is expected to seek re-election as president from the outgoing legislature, a move the opposition could challenge in the Supreme Court.

Yesterday's hearing adjourned after five hours without any verdict. The next hearing was set for April 13.

During the hearing, protesters waving party flags filled the road in front of the Supreme Court - most of them from an alliance of hard-line religious parties.

"Musharraf, killer of justice," they chanted, brandishing banners with slogans including "Don't destroy the judiciary."

At a similar protest during the last hearing on March 16, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to contain a phalanx of rock-throwing demonstrators and raided a private TV network offering live coverage of the unrest.

This time, hundreds of police and paramilitary troops were positioned near the court, where concrete blocks and coils of barbed wire closed access roads to traffic. They scuffled briefly with demonstrators to stop them from following Chaudhry's car into the court complex and also intervened to rescue several men harangued and beaten by some of the black-suited lawyers.