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Fresh clashes in Karachi kill 4
Submitted by newscaster on Mon, 05/14/2007 - 05:27.
Fresh clashes have claimed four lives in Karachi on Sunday, as the funeral processions for the 36 victims of Saturday's violence got under way. Fifty people have been arrested. Opposition parties are observing a black day on Sunday and have called for a nationwide strike on Monday. The city remains tense and extra troops have been called in, though no curfew has been imposed. Thirty-six people were killed in Saturday's gun battles on the streets of Karachi. Troubling times The trouble began on Saturday when sacked Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry flew into Karachi to address a rally. The rally had been planned as the largest so far to protest Chaudhry's sacking by President Pervez Musharraf. However, a clash broke out between the pro-government Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) workers and Chaudhry's supporters. The latter included political workers from the parties of former primer ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. ''This seems to be an obvious mistake by the government that they permitted both rallies on the same day,'' said Tariq Iqbal, a local resident ''The tragedy wouldn't have happened if the rallies were held on separate days''. Growing disturbance Media channels were blacked out, and the Aaj TV office was attacked by gunmen. The shooting went on for over an hour with no security cover for the journalists. The chief justice's rally at the Sindh High Court was foiled and he had return to Islamabad, Meanwhile, President Musharraf addressed a rally in Islamabad on Saturday evening and said that the violence in Karachi was the result of the continuous politicisation of the sacking of the chief justice. ''The first reason was that the whole issue has been politicized and this has been happening for the past two months. The second reason is that the government had warned them that going to Karachi could lead to problems like worsening of law and order, still they went and it resulted in this loss for us,'' he said. Musharraf also ruled out the imposition of an emergency. ******************************************************************************************************************** BACKGROUND: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry on March 9. There were allegations of misconduct and nepotism mainly related to an abuse of power. Chaudry’s supporters say that he was suspended for looking into “forced disappearances” where Pakistanis were taken away by Pakistans intelligence agencies without due process. The problem is further complicated by the fact that Musharraf, president and dictator after a military coup about seven years ago, is Islamic and Chaudry is Hindu. Pakistan is often a hotbed of conflict due to the presence of religious disputes. *DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Do you think that the government should have controlled the rallies only permitting one to be held per day? Chaudry’s supporters are pushing for an “independent judiciary”. What are the problems that are inevitable when the judicial branch of a government is not independent? This issue and the support for Chaudry could be seen as a democratic movement in Pakistan against president Musharraf. What do you imagine will happen in Pakistan in the future? *REMEMBER TO BE RESPECTFUL *************************************** Source: |
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