Pakistan's deposed top judge urges lawyers to resist emergency rule
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Pakistan's deposed chief justice called on lawyers Tuesday to defy baton-wielding police and protest until President Gen. Pervez Musharraf lifts a state of emergency. The government, meanwhile, debated whether to delay parliamentary elections by up to three months.
Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, declared the emergency Saturday. Thousands of people have been rounded up and thrown in jail since then, including members of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's party.
Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan last month following eight years in exile, flew to Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss the political crisis with other opposition parties. She said she had no plans to meet Musharraf, with whom she had been considering forming an alliance just a few weeks ago.