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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan's Sharif fires up lawyers against Musharraf |
| 2008-06-14 |
| Former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif told tens of thousands of supporters of the country's deposed chief justice Friday that President Pervez Musharraf would be forced to "pay for his crimes." Around 30,000 lawyers and political activists chanting "Go, Musharraf, Go!" swarmed into Islamabad at the climax of a cross-country "long march" to demand the reinstatement of dozens of judges sacked by Musharraf last year. "Musharraf will have to pay for his crimes, he will not be given a safe passage now," said Sharif, waving his fists in the air in a hard-hitting speech aimed at his arch-foe, who ousted him in a bloodless military coup in 1999. Lawyers have led opposition to Musharraf since he fired judges, including chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, under emergency rule in November, and vow to stage a sit-in outside parliament until the government restores him. "I can see in you the dawn of a new sun. Your passion will restore the supremacy of the law, restore the judges and punish this dictator," Sharif told the flag-waving crowd, which answered with cries of "Hang Musharraf!" Friday's rally, which was held amid tight security, came after a caravan comprising hundreds of vehicles completed a 24-hour journey from the eastern city of Lahore on the final leg of a nationwide protest. Police said around 30,000 people had gathered, including protesters outside the parliament building in the capital as well as those in the cavalcade. Protest organisers said the figure was 50,000. |
| Posted by:Fred |