Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Karachi (Agenzia Fides) - Tension is rising in Pakistan, especially in Karachi with days of disorder and protest against President Musharraf' s decision to dismiss supreme court president Iftikkhar Chaudhry known for his positions in favour of legality. Yesterday a general strike called by the Oppostion brought crowds into the streets in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, to protest against harsh army repression of recent demonstrators. Because of the strike many public offices, institutions and schools were closed.
Social tension rocketed after yesterday's assassination of Syed Hamid Raza, a high ranking supreme court official considered very close to Chaudhry and a witness in many investigations. This is the first nation wide general strike since Musharraf took power with a coup in 1999. The situation is especially tense in Karachi, where pro Chaudhry demonstrations were violently repressed by police and militants of the pro-government Muttahida Qaumi movement.
The Catholic Bishops of Pakistan have condemned the violence advocating a peaceful solution to the crisis. The Bishops' Justice and Peace Commission supported a campaign to promote legality, transparency and democracy.
Various realities of Pakistan civil society including religious organisations, Catholic and others meeting for a recent seminar, stressed the need to put an end to abuse by military forces and the virus of religious intergralism and to rediscover the vision of the Father of the homeland Ali Jinnah: a nation open, democratic, tolerant, pluralist, secular, with guaranteed respect for all citizens and all minorities and firmly founded democratic institutions and power sharing, regulated by a Constitution. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 15/5/2007 righe 27 parole 278)
