Islamabad
Journalists staged rallies across Pakistan, marking yesterday as a "black day" to condemn police beatings during opposition protests against President General Pervez Musharraf's pursuit of another five-year term.
The protests came a day after Musharraf picked up a key legal victory when the Election Commission approved his candidacy for the October 6 vote as lawyers and opposition activists protested outside. Police wielded batons and fired tear gas to disperse them before turning on journalists covering the melee in Islamabad.
Sixty-four people were injured, including 13 police officials, 31 journalists, two opposition members and several passers-by, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported, quoting an official statement.
Wearing black armbands and carrying black flags, journalists were joined by opposition activists, legislators and lawyers in a rally yesterday in the capital. About 1000 people chanted, "We want freedom" and "No to rules of oppression". Rallies also were held in Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore. In Multan, more than 400 protesters burned tyres near the city's press club.
The Supreme Court's top judge said yesterday he will hold a hearing on the violence. He summoned police, Interior Ministry and district officials to appear in court today for an explanation, according to a court statement that quoted a senior court official as calling the police response "highly excessive".
Police "outnumbered the agitating lawyers and missed no opportunity to thrash them," it said.
Journalists denounced the beatings as "shameful tactics" by a government that has claimed to promote press freedoms, said Mushtaq Minhas, president of the press club in Islamabad.
"What happened yesterday was shameful and the darkest day in Pakistan's history," Minhas said, accusing the government of increasing intolerance of independent media.
"The dictators want to trample every institution under their military boots," Minhas told the Islamabad rally.
Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim and a representative from a pro-Musharraf party were also injured in Saturday's melee, after receiving a few punches from protesters.
Minhas said police registered cases under anti-terrorism laws implicating several journalists in the attack on Azim.
Despite dwindling popularity and increasingly bitter opposition, Musharraf, a close US ally, also seems set to win the election. The ruling coalition says it has the numbers it needs, and even the general's main challenger, retired Judge Wajihuddin Ahmed, has admitted he does not have much of a chance.-AP
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