Crisis in Pakistan continues

WATCH VIDEO

Source: CCTV.com | 11-06-2007 08:32

A paramillitary soldier stands guard outside the High Court building in Karachi November 4, 2007.  REUTERS/Mohsin Hassan (PAKISTAN)

Police in Pakistan have clashed with lawyers to squash protests against President Pervez Musharraf. And international pressure is mounting against the imposition of emergency rule by Musharraf, which has already led to more than 1500 arrests.

According to local press reports, the biggest protest took place in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. A number of lawyers were injured and arrested after police launched tear gas shells at around a thousand protesters outside the high court.

Since the declaration of the state of emergency on Saturday, the Supreme Court judges, who didn't take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order, have been kept confined to their houses.

Muhamil Khan Zaman, Lawyer, said, "The police present on the four entrance gates of the district courts, they stopped us and told us that the high-ups of the police and the other state authorities have directed them to stop the lawyers and other people from entering the courts."

A man walks past policemen keeping watch near an intersection in Lahore November 4, 2007. REUTERS/Adrees Latif (PAKISTAN)

Musharraf suspended the constitution on Saturday, ahead of a Supreme Court ruling that could have overturned his re-election as president. He has also ousted independent-minded judges and granted sweeping powers to authorities to prevent any possible demonstrations.

In his Monday briefing to foreign ambassadors, Musharraf blamed the judiciary for "paralyzing various organs of the state" and "creating impediments in the fight against terrorism."

Since the imposition of emergency, citizens in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have remained in a state of uncertainty. School attendance is also down.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei