Police block activists in Pakistan protest
Activists holding an anti-government protest were prevented from leaving the city of Karachi, and more than 100 protestors were arrested
Police in Pakistan yesterday stopped activists who were holding an anti-government protest from leaving the city of Karachi and arrested more than 100 protesters. Despite a ban on public protests and more than 300 activists held on Wednesday, opponents of President Asif Ali Zardari set out on a four-day “long march” from at least three cities and headed towards the capital, Islamabad.
With Pakistan in fresh crisis, lawyers, opposition supporters and civil activists planned to drive 1,500 kilometres (940 miles) from Karachi to Islamabad to demand that President Asif Ali Zardari reinstate sacked judges, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, locked in a showdown with Zardari, has urged people to rise up against the government, which has failed to stem a political crisis, the economic meltdown and Islamist violence.Zardari and Sharif have long fought over the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan, a key US ally in the fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militancy.
Yesterday riot police turned back a convoy of about 300 activists and lawyers at the main gateway out of Karachi, confiscating buses and manhandling about 20 protesters into waiting prison vans after erecting barricades on the highway."We have instructions not to allow any political activists to cross the barrier," police official Anwar Ahmed told AFP.Protesters were calling on Zardari to act on a promise to reinstate judges after former military ruler Pervez Musharraf sacked about 60 of them, including the Supreme Court chief justice, in 2007.
It was protests in 2007 led to Musharraf's resignation and now patience is running out with the new civilian government.The unrest has also raised fears that the army might once again take power if Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif continue their feuding – even as Islamist militants appear to be gaining ground in Pakistan’s northwest.
Hundreds of activists have been detained since Wednesday. The government this week threatened to charge Sharif with sedition for inciting public rebellion after the Supreme Court on February 25 disqualified him and his brother from contesting elections.
Written by Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children
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