Protesting lawyers tear-gassed in Karachi

Police fired tear gas and charged about 100 lawyers protesting on Thursday here to have judges reinstated after they were deposed last year by President Pervez Musharraf, police said. Six people, including lawyers, were arrested outside the Sindh High Court SHC.
“We have arrested a few people and police had to use tear gas to disperse lawyers who were trying to hold a rally,” senior police official Tahir Naved told AFP.
Lawyers around the country have held regular demonstrations since the judges’ dismissal, and have threatened a large-scale march on Islamabad next month if all the jurists are not reinstated. In a telephone address on Thursday to the Sindh High Court bar association, former CJP Justice Chaudhry said there were no constitutional hurdles to returning the judges to their posts. “I was deposed by an executive order and I can be restored by an executive order. There is no need of two-thirds majority of the parliament,” Justice Chaudhry said. Pakistan Peoples Party along with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz emerged as winners after Monday’s parliamentary elections.
They have been considering a coalition, and PML-N chief Sharif has said his first act in a new government would be to get Justice Chaudhry back in his job.
“People have given their verdict which shows that they have rejected the policies of the government,” Justice Chaudhry said from his home in Islamabad, where he has is still under detention.