TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bhutto Backers, Police Battle In Pakistan

ADVERTISEMENT

By DAVID ROHDE and JANE PERLEZ, The New York Times

Published: November 8, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Police clashed violently with supporters of the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday after she announced that her party would carry out a mass demonstration Friday and a protest march next week if the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, refuses to end emergency rule.

Authorities have said they will not allow the demonstration. Bhutto's statements set up an immediate confrontation with Musharraf, who declared emergency rule Saturday, suspending the constitution, arresting hundreds of lawyers, protesters and political opponents, and shutting down independent television news outlets. Under the decree, public protests are banned.

"We are going ahead with the protest on the 9th," Bhutto said after meeting with other opposition parties. "I understand my liberty might be at stake."

Police officers fired tear gas and beat about 100 of her party workers when they tried to push through police barriers blocking access to the Parliament building.

Until now, Pakistani lawyers have led the challenge to emergency rule, staging small protests, which police have broken up by force. Bhutto's party, the biggest opposition political party, is widely seen as the only group capable of bringing large numbers of protesters onto the streets.

Friday's demonstration is set to take place in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, close to Islamabad. Mayor Javed Ikhlas said it would not be allowed. "We will ensure that they don't violate the ban on rallies," he said. "And if they do it, the government will take action according to the law."

Ikhlas said there was a "strong threat" of a terrorist attack against Bhutto. On Oct. 18, a suicide bombing attack on a parade in Karachi celebrating her homecoming after eight years in self-exile left more than 140 people dead.

Bhutto's plans for the route of next week's protest march is significant: It runs more than 160 miles from the eastern city of Lahore to Islamabad, the heart of Punjab, the country's largest and most powerful province.

The vast majority of Pakistan's army hails from Punjab, and the military has hesitated in the past to fire on civilians in the province.

Widespread popular unrest there could cause senior Pakistani army commanders to turn on Musharraf and ask him to resign, some analysts said.

President Bush told Musharraf on Wednesday he must hold parliamentary elections soon and step down as army leader.

"You can't be the president and the head of the military at the same time," Bush said, describing a 20-minute telephone call with Musharraf. "I had a very frank discussion with him."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT