Pakistan opposition tastes
blood By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - When suspended Chief Justice
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry received a rapturous
welcome by thousands of people on his way to a
rally in Lahore this past weekend, a deep sense of
foreboding was awakened in the corridors of power
in Islamabad.
The widespread protests
since President General Pervez Musharraf suspended
Chaudhry on March 9 on accusations of charges of
abuse of power were taking on a distinctly
anti-Musharraf flavor: the judicial crisis was
being hijacked by the
opposition political parties.
Musharraf's response was to meet fire with
fire.
Weekend clashes between rival
political parties in the port city of Karachi left
more than 45 people dead and hundreds injured.
Musharraf gave the several thousand special
Rangers sent to the city orders to "shoot to kill"
any "miscreants".
Karachi and other major
centers observed the opposition's call for a
general strike on Monday in protest of the
violence.
When it was announced last week
that Chaudhry would travel to Karachi to address
the Sindh Bar Council, opposition and
pro-Musharraf parties immediately announced plans
for rallies. As it turned out, Chaudhry never left
Karachi airport, but the rival parties
nevertheless set about each other in the volatile
city.
Karachi, the capital of Sindh
province, has a history of unseating governments
through popular movements, and neither side was
prepared to back down.
On the Musharraf
side, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and its
coalition partner in the federal and Sindh
governments, the Muttehida Qaumi Movement (MQM),
gathered forces. The Urdu-based MQM traditionally
trumpets the rights of immigrants from India in
Pakistan.
Activists of the Pashtun-based
opposition, such as the Awami National Party (ANP)
and the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian
(PPPP) of Benazir Bhutto, meanwhile, gathered in
numbers.
As tension mounted in
anticipation of Chaudhry's arrival on Saturday,
the security forces withdrew from the streets,
making it inevitable that violence would ensue,
especially as MQM activists blocked off all roads
to the airport.
Most of the victims were
Pashtuns belonging to the ANP. With more than 1.5
million, Karachi has the biggest Pashtun
population in the world.
On Monday,
Karachi was tense. All multinational corporations,
banks, industries and commercial activities were
shut down. Armed mobs were still visible on the
streets, including PPPP activists who went on the
rampage in the southern Lyari area, setting
government assets on fire.
The eastern
district became a battlefield between the MQM and
the Pashtun jirga, an armed grouping of
Pashtuns formed recently specifically to counter
attacks on Pashtuns. Both sides exchanged heavy
fire, with most casualties reported among the MQM.
The paramilitary forces instructed to kill
on sight again remained in the background, perhaps
feeling they would only make the situation worse.
Not that the government has been inactive.
It has mounted raids across Punjab on the
residences of opposition parties, and hundreds of
people have been arrested.
On Saturday, to
the beat of the drums of folk dancers and behind a
bulletproof shield, Musharraf said in Islamabad
that the masses were behind him and they had shown
their muscles in Karachi.
But just two
days later, Musharraf and his coalition partners
are on the back foot as the opposition parties
have taken center stage.
New
dynamics The government now blames
Chaudhry for politicizing the country. But the
opposition parties saw their opportunity, and they
moved quickly to ride the discontent created by
Chaudhry's suspension. It is widely believed that
Musharraf acted against Chaudhry to ensure that
his bid for another five years in power this year
is not blocked by the judiciary, especially over
Musharraf's refusal to step down as army chief.
"I can assure you, had the political
parties not backed the chief justice, the
government would have dismissed him in two weeks,
just like it has in the past with other judges,"
said cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who
has emerged as a frontline leader in the crisis.
"Without a uniform, Musharraf would not manage to
win a single seat in Parliament," said Kahn.
Ahead of Chaudhry's visit to Karachi,
Pakistani intelligence agencies had planned to
contain the traditional political parties, such as
the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and the PPPP. But the
well-organized JI had read the writing on the wall
and lay very low, handing over the mantle of
protest to the ANP, which took the brunt of the
casualties.
The ANP and the MQM are both
pro-Western and have in the past cooperated
despite their ethnic differences. But the
government set the stage for the bloody showdown
between the MQM and the ANP.
The Pashtun
populations in North West Frontier Province (NWFP)
and southwestern Balochistan province are already
restive because of Pakistani military operations
against them in pursuing the "war on terror".
(Significantly, Pashtuns make up 25% of the armed
forces.)
The events in Karachi will
certainly strengthen Pashtun bonds across the
country - both NWFP and Balochistan shut down on
Monday.
According to news reports, the
MQM-anointed Sindh governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad,
called the leader of the ANP, Asfandyar Wali Khan,
on Monday in an attempt to patch things up. Wali,
though, clearly told the governor that the ruling
coalition would face the music in reaction to what
it had done on the streets of Karachi.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia
Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be
reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
(Copyright 2007 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
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