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Pakistani Protesters March To Support Ousted Judges

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The Washington Post

Published: June 14, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Tens of thousands of people marched on Pakistan's capital Friday to demand the reinstatement of some 60 judges ousted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last year.

In an unprecedented show of force, lawyers, merchants, textile workers, teachers and homemakers traveled from every corner of the country to Islamabad to register their discontent with Musharraf's nearly 9-year-old military administration. Dubbed the "Long March" by its organizers, the four-day nationwide protest kicked off in the southern urban hub of Karachi on Tuesday, gathered strength as it hit the central city of Lahore late Thursday and grew as it pushed toward the capital.

The march is a culmination of a 15-month-long push to reinstate Pakistan's tattered judiciary. Public pressure to restore the deposed judges to office began mounting last March after Musharraf suspended the chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.

Pakistan's two ruling political parties have so far been divided over how or when to reinstate Chaudhry and the other deposed judges to the bench. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has called for the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of the judiciary. Asif Ali Zardari, widower of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and leader of the Pakistan People's Party, has been pushing for the judges to be restored through a complex package of constitutional amendments.

RICE REGRETFUL

•Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice offered her personal regrets to Pakistan on Friday for the deaths of soldiers. The two nations remained at odds over what happened and whether the United States accidentally killed friendly forces. Rice met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Paris.

•Pakistan agreed to join a U.S. investigation of Tuesday's bombing, which Pakistan says killed 11 of its soldiers camped along the lawless Afghan border. The U.S. military claims only enemy insurgents were targeted.

•U.S. officials also aired new qualms about peace agreements between the new Pakistani government and tribal leaders in regions near the Afghan border. Commanders say such deals have created safe havens for Afghan militants who can attack across the frontier. U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill said the solution is for the coalition and Pakistani militaries to conduct more cross-border operations together to root out insurgents hiding in safe havens there, and stem the flow of militants into Afghanistan.

Source: The Associated Press

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