Clashes leave 28 dead in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Men armed with assault rifles battled for hours Saturday in a confrontation between pro- and anti-government forces that raged through residential neighborhoods in Karachi, the country’s largest city, killing at least 28 people and injuring more than 100 others.
The strife in the volatile port city of 15 million people, which has a long history of political violence, was the worst yet during a crisis that erupted two months ago when President Pervez Musharraf suspended the country’s top judge.
Backers of Musharraf appeared to be the driving force behind the violence in Karachi.
Pakistan is an important American ally in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban, both of which have been using the wild frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan as a base for planning new attacks against Western targets, including the NATO-led force in Afghanistan.
In a Karachi neighborhood close to the international airport, smoke billowed from burning barricades, panicky motorists abandoned their vehicles, and residents of high-rise apartment buildings rushed for cover in inner rooms as the chaotic fighting continued through much of the day.
Musharraf, speaking at a rally in the capital, Islamabad, appealed for calm, but stopped short of declaring martial law in Karachi.
“If you are unhappy about what has happened … halt these protests,” the president, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999, told nearly 50,000 supporters in the capital. “There is no need for an emergency – the people are with me.”
The political confrontation began March 9, when Musharraf suspended the country’s most senior jurist, Iftikhar Chaudhry, accusing him of misconduct. But many people believed the president was seeking to push aside the Supreme Court chief justice to preclude a challenge to the validity of elections to be held later this year.
A judicial panel is examining Chaudhry’s suspension, but it could take months to reach a conclusion.
The fighting between pro- and anti-government forces broke out just before Chaudhry was to address a large gathering of lawyers, who have rallied to his cause in nationwide gatherings. He was expected to call for his reinstatement and to urge Musharraf either to step down or to give up his military role – a stance that his backers believe was the reason he was suspended from his post.
Opposition parties said the violence was orchestrated by the pro-government Mutahida Qami Movement, which controls the municipality. Leaders of the opposition, who had planned to greet Chaudhry at the airport, said police stood idly by as they were beaten and intimidated at the airport and during violence that subsequently spilled over into large areas of the sprawling city.
In Pakistan, a presidential vote and parliamentary elections are to take place later this year. Opponents of Musharraf have accused him of engineering the parliamentary elections in a way that will ensure his continuing grip on power.
The current crisis is the most serious of Musharraf’s tenure.
The violence threatened to put a damper on the Pakistani leader’s recent reported overtures to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, now in exile. News reports have said Bhutto is willing to give Musharraf political support in exchange for some undefined role in government and the dropping of corruption charges against her.
Backers of Bhutto’s People’s Party were among those clashing with pro-government supporters in Karachi. The fighting continued after night had fallen.