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Army on alert as protest marchers head for Pakistan capital
Sydney Morning Herald - March 13, 2009
Matt Wade – Pakistan's political crisis deepened last night as anti-Government protesters defied a sweeping security crackdown to begin a mass protest march towards the capital, Islamabad.
There were clashes between police and protesters in the port city of Karachi, one of the starting points of the rally.
Called the "long march", the protest has been called to demand the reinstatement of judges sacked by the former president, Pervez Musharraf.
Riot police wearing helmets and carrying batons bundled more than 35 people into police vans near Karachi's main court complex, Agence France-Presse reported. Television showed groups of lawyers, many in suits, marching on Karachi streets in defiance of a ban on mass gatherings in the Sindh state.
Gatherings and processions have also been prohibited in Pakistan's biggest province, the Punjab, and many protest organisers have reportedly been arrested.
Siddiqul Farooq, a spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the main opposition party promoting the march, claimed that more than 500 of its workers had been detained before the protest. "This will not hamper the national long march... the whole nation is behind these democratic forces," he said.
The Test cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan, is supporting the march but was reportedly in hiding last night after evading an attempt by police to place him under house arrest.
Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, the executive director of Islamabad's Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, said the instability caused by the march had the potential to destroy Pakistan's newly restored democracy if it resulted in widespread violence.
"It is going to be a very chaotic and dangerous period, and if it gets out of hand the military, which has been reluctant to intervene until this time, may have to step in and take over," he said.
"There is a very real likelihood that Pakistan's whole democratic system will be disrupted and that would be very sad, considering democracy was restored less than a year ago."
The march has triggered a tense stand-off between the President, Asif Ali Zardari, and Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). Mr Zardari cut short an official visit to Iran and flew back to Islamabad on Wednesday night to deal with the crisis. He was expected to meet with the Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, last night.
Mr Gilani met with Pakistan's military chief, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and the army is reported to be on high alert.
The political crisis has distracted the Government from the huge challenges facing Pakistan, especially the country's growing insurgency, terrorism and a deep economic crisis.
Analysts say the crackdown ordered by Mr Zardari's Government has alienated supporters of his Pakistan People's Party, which has traditionally used street protests as a political tactic. Human rights groups have condemned the measures taken to stifle political expression and have called for the release of those arrested.
Protest organisers hope hundreds of thousands of people will join the march as it moves through the cities of Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi before arriving in Islamabad on Monday. They are planning a sit-in protest at the national Parliament, until the demand to reinstate sacked judges, including the former chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, are met.
However, Mr Sharif is also under some pressure for the march to yield political results. The protest could backfire for Mr Sharif politically if fails to attract large numbers.
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