PAKISTANI LAWYERS PROTEST FAILURE TO RE-INSTATE, RELEASE JUDGES

The current protests and street demonstrations in Pakistan are a continuation of the rightful demands of Pakistan's legal profession to reinstate Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Chaudry and all the other judges and lawyers who have been illegally dismissed from office or imprisoned at the hands of former strongman Pervez Musharraf.

Pamela Constable reports from Islamabad for The Washington Post:

"Pakistani authorities arrested hundreds of political activists and banned public gatherings in two provinces Wednesday as President Asif Ali Zardari attempted to squelch a massive protest march organized by a coalition of opponents that includes lawyers and a former prime minister.

"The march, slated to begin Thursday, was originally planned by Pakistani lawyers as a peaceful action to demand the reinstatement of the deposed Supreme Court chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. But in recent weeks it has been overtaken by the clash between Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, and the rival Pakistan Muslim League faction led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz.

"In scenes reminiscent of repression under Pakistan's former military regime, television footage Wednesday showed activists being dragged into police vans, even as major opposition leaders addressed boisterous rallies in several cities."

The current president Asif Ali Zardari, husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, is proving himself no better capable of preserving the rule of law and a democratic government in Pakistan than Pervez Musharraf, former president and general of the Pakistan army.