Today, lawyers have launched three days of protests, opposing the state of emergency that began on Saturday and has effectively eliminated any pretence of judicial independence from General Musharraf. Law courts in every city of Pakistan were shut. Just as in March, when lawyers came onto the streets opposing the suspension of Chief Justice Chaudhry, today lawyers challenged the power of the military once more. But their actions are all the more courageous now, given the total ban on public political activity and the mass arrests of opposition activists – numbering several thousands since Saturday.
In Lahore over 2,000 lawyers assembled, locked the doors of the courtrooms and rallied together in the law court buildings. As they assembled, the atmosphere reflected the tense and fearful feeling in the population at large, but this was combined by a determination to fight. Their message could not be clearer; now was the time to make a stand. From the outset a clear division could be observed amongst the lawyers. Speakers at the rally stressed the need not to respond violently to police provocation, while a militant majority was prepared to fight. The same people also named the government of General Musharraf the enemy – going beyond a defence of judicial independence from his dictates.
The lawyers marched out of the courthouse and forced out the security service agents that were dressed in plain clothes (they were obviously distinguished from the black suited lawyers, and congregating in large groups). One black suited man was approached by lawyers who did not recognise him, and asked who he was. when He responded that he was “the director of the IB” (Pakistan’s second intelligence agency after the ISI). He was unceremoniously slapped and chased out of the grounds – forced to jump over the railings of the law court grounds!
The police had positioned themselves inside the grounds of the law courts, and the lawyers set about pushing them back with the intention to march in the road. In the first clashes the police seemed caught by surprise at the determination of the crowd. As the police used batons to defend their position, the crowd took up stones and rocks as missiles. For a few moments the police were forced backwards out of the grounds.
But despite the determination of the crowd there was no organised self-defence. As the police began firing tear gas canisters and sending heavier numbers in, the crowd was pushed back and began to run. Line after line of police charged and indiscriminately beat people as they fled back into the courthouse. The police chased the crowd into the courthouse and three hours of fighting followed.
The movement stoically defended itself from a state that had declared martial law on the people. Many lawyers, at least several hundred, were arrested in Lahore alone; over a thousand were arrested across Pakistan, adding further to the huge numbers snatched in the crackdown of the last few days.
At the opening rally one poster had listed the judges that had refused to sign the PCO, with the message, “We salute you", and added they only recognised the old Supreme Court, whose last decision declared Musharraf’s state of emergency illegal. The judges that refused to sign the PCO, including the former Chief Justice, are now under an unofficial house arrest, unable to leave their homes.
This underlines the tremendous division and crisis that now exists in the Pakistani state and ruling class. Musharraf may have passed all power into his hands but, as we comment in our statement, this is a desperate act by a man who is losing control of Pakistan. As the western media heavily criticise his actions, he is now under enormous pressure. Reflecting this pressure were the rumours of Musharraf losing the support of the army general staff and being under house arrest that spread today. Such was the prevalence of these, the government was forced to come out and deny them.
The wave of repression on the opposition has succeeded in creating a climate of fear on the streets. So far the PPP has escaped the mass arrests that have been suffered by the Justice Party, the PML-N and the left. Their spokesperson at the Lahore High Court said they would not support a Musharraf government, and they are again in talks with opposition parties on “resisting". But they have said such things many times before, only to recant them. Indeed, none of the bourgeois political parties have called the mass demonstrations and actions desperately needed to resist the state of emergency.
Despite the prevalence of fear amongst the people, there can be no doubt that if clear leadership were given by mass forces at this critical time, then there would be an almighty response – the people hate Musharraf and the generals now more than ever. Just this year, they have shown they are prepared to take to the streets in huge numbers to oppose them.
The lawyers’ movement was physically defeated today but they won a political victory. Their bravery and courage can and must embolden the masses to take to the streets and resist military rule. That said, the sheer number of activists arrested, including the lawyers, may mean that tomorrow’s demonstrations are not on the same scale.
But ultimately the government remains in a deep crisis. The stock markets fell sharply again today. Most of all, despite the recent ceasefire, the government is compelled by the United States to fight an unwinnable war in the Afghan border regions. The significant numbers of Pakistani soldiers dying for this war undermine the very power base of the military regime.