Lawyers clash with police in Karachi, 9 arrested

Karachi: Pakistani lawyers clashed with police in Karachi on Thursday today when they tried to organise a protest march to demand reinstatement of judges deposed during last year's Emergency rule, leaving at least three members of the legal fraternity injured and nine arrested.

Police fired teargas and resorted to baton-charge to disperse a large number of lawyers who gathered at the city courts to take out a rally to the busy M A Jinnah road. The lawyers hurled stones at police and shouted slogans.

Nine lawyers were arrested and three others injured in the police action, members of the local bar association said. The arrested lawyers were bundled into vans and whisked away.

The clashes erupted as deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry addressed lawyers of the Sindh High Court over phone.

Amidst reports that he might be freed from house arrest following the victory of the opposition PPP and PML-N in the general election, Chaudhry referred to President Pervez Musharraf's actions and said if one person could change the

Constitution, there would be no need for a Parliament.

Chaudhry urged the new Parliament not to endorse actions taken during last year's emergency. If this was done, there would be bad consequences for the country, he said.

The people had spoken out in the polls against Musharraf's actions during emergency, he said.

An official of the Karachi Bar Association said among those arrested was its Secretary General Naeem Qureshi.

"Three of our lawyers have also been wounded in the lathi charge by the police. We just wanted to take out a peaceful protest for the (reinstatement of deposed) Chief Justice," the official said.

The lawyers protest comes one day after, Aitzaz Ahsan, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association was allowed to come out of his residence in Islamabad where he has been under house arrest for the last two months.

Ahsan said the lawyers community would continue their movement for the restoration of an independent judiciary even after the general elections saw the ruling PML-Q booted out of power.

The senior lawyer has been at the forefront of the lawyers movement since President Pervez Musharraf enforced emergency on November 3 and dismissed Chaudhry.