Top anti-Musharraf lawyer placed under house arrest after temporary release

Quetta: A firebrand lawyer who organised street protests against President Pervez Musharraf was placed under house arrest on Monday only days after authorities freed him from three months detention, police said.

A detention order was served on Ali Ahmad Kurd, vice chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council in Quetta, police chief Rehmatullah Niazi said. He added Kurd had been detained to ensure peace.

The gray-haired lawyer came into the limelight in March when he toured the country, criticising Musharraf for sacking then-Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Three months ago, the government placed Kurd under house arrest along with Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, and one of Chaudhry's attorneys, Tariq Mahmood.

All three were released from house arrest last week, but Ahsan and Mahmood were detained again at the weekend.

All three are close to Chaudhry, who has remained under house arrest in Islamabad since November 3 when Musharraf declared a state of emergency. Musharraf later replaced Chaudhry and sacked about 60 other judges.

Musharraf lifted the emergency on December 15.