Chaudhry: Be ready for sacrifice

Islamabad: Pakistan's deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry yesterday urged the countrymen to "rise up" for the restoration of the constitution suspended by President and army chief General Pervez Musharraf when he declared emergency rule at the weekend.

Chaudhry, who is under virtual house arrest in the capital, made the appeal in an address by telephone to lawyers here as protests and arrests continued but on a lesser scale than on Monday in major cities nationwide.

"The constitution has been torn to shreds," he said, asking lawyers to convey his message to the masses "to stand up to restore the constitution and be ready for sacrifices at this critical juncture for the cause of constitutional rule in Pakistan".

There were reports that as he made the address the authorities blocked all mobile phone services in Islamabad. Private television channels have been off the air since the day the emergency was imposed, but some used the internet to convey their broadcasts.

Struggle

Chaudhry said he was "confined" but expressed the hope that he would be with the people soon to join the struggle for the revival of the constitution.

During the address the lawyers chanted anti-Musharraf slogans and vowed to carry on the protest movement.

The sacked judge said Musharraf had taken the "illegal" action because he suspected the Supreme Court would rule against his October 6 election.

He rejected Musharraf's allegation that the judiciary had been unruly and that it had brought governance to a state of paralysis by its mounting interference.

Chaudhry, who was reinstated by the Supreme Court in July after Musharraf moved to oust him on charges of misconduct, said the 160 million people of Pakistan knew how the top court under him had been providing justice to them.

Lawyers boycotted courts across the country and rallies were held in important cities for the second day.

In the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad, police arrested 25 lawyers protesting against emergency rule and the suspension of the constitution.

Arrests

Hundreds were arrested on Monday and police sources put the total number of arrests including opposition workers, human rights and civil society activists throughout the country at more than 1,500.

Another 12 lawyers were arrested in Lahore, capital of Punjab province, where police and rangers were heavily guarding the Lahore High Court premises.

The Sindh High Court building in Karachi was also under tight security and only litigants were being allowed inside, reports said.

The president of the bar association in Balochistan province was arrested and before being taken away by the police he told journalists in the provincial capital Quetta that so far 70 lawyers in the province had been taken into custody.