Bloomberg : Pakistan Opposition Calls Strike to Protest Election (Update1)

Pakistan Opposition Calls Strike to Protest Election (Update1)

By Khalid Qayum and Khaleeq Ahmed | Bloomberg | October 1, 2007

Pakistan's opposition parties called a general strike for Oct. 6 to coincide with the country's presidential election that will probably see Pervez Musharraf returned for a second five-year term.

A total of 236 lawmakers from the All Parties Democratic Movement will resign from the national parliament and the four provincial assemblies tomorrow to protest Musharraf standing, Siddique-ul-Farooq, a spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, a member of the alliance, said by telephone late yesterday.

Musharraf has a ``comfortable majority'' among lawmakers to win a new term, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, said yesterday, according to a government statement in Islamabad. Pakistan's national and provincial assemblies choose the president.

Pakistan's opposition staged protests after the Election Commission on Sept. 29 ruled that Musharraf was eligible to run for president. Musharraf, who took power in a military coup in 1999, sparked the most widespread opposition to his rule when he removed the country's top judge from his post in March, an order overturned by the Supreme Court in July.

Pakistan's lawyers boycotted court proceedings across the country today to protest police action against demonstrators, Hamid Khan, a member of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said in a phone interview. Lawyers protesting against Musharraf were injured by tear gas and batons used by police on Sept. 29.

Excessive Force

Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry, Pakistan's chief justice, is hearing a case today to determine whether excessive force was used by police against lawyers and journalists on Sept. 29. The Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the police chief of Islamabad today for allegedly ordering officers to attack protesters, GEO television reported.

Parties supporting Musharraf in the opposition-controlled North West Frontier Province are attempting to block a move by Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani to dismiss the assembly.

Lawmakers submitted an application today to remove Durrani, GEO reported. According to Pakistan's constitution, a chief minister cannot dismiss a provincial assembly while facing a motion for his removal. He has to seek a majority of votes from lawmakers before taking such action.

The Election Commission issued its ruling approving Musharraf as a presidential candidate after a Supreme Court panel on Sept. 28 dismissed an opposition appeal that he should be barred from standing while he holds the post of army chief. The court also rejected a petition that Musharraf, 64, is too old to head the army.

Path to Democracy

``The presidential election, followed by the general elections, will put the country on the sustainable path of democracy,'' Aziz said in his statement. Parliamentary elections will be held by Jan. 15 after the present term ends on Nov. 15.

Journalists yesterday observed a day of protest after police beat several reporters covering the demonstration in Islamabad by lawyers. Reporters will boycott all government events and won't report parliamentary proceedings from Oct 3, Afzal Butt, secretary of the Islamabad Press Club, said yesterday.

About 30 journalists were injured while covering the demonstration, he said.

Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S. campaign against terrorism, is backed by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid- i-Azam party, which says its lawmakers will support his re- election.

A total of 43 candidates, including Wajihuddin Ahmed, a retired judge, and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the vice chairman of former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party, applied to run for president. About 38 were later disqualified, GEO television reported two days ago.

To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad at kqayum@bloomberg.net ; Khaleeq Ahmed in Islamabad.