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Pakistani journalists condemn beatings on day of protests

Pakistani journalists marked yesterday as a "black day" to condemn police beatings during opposition protests against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's pursuit of another five-year term.

Musharraf picked up a key legal victory on Saturday when the Election Commission declared him a qualified candidate for next Saturday's vote -- as lawyers and opposition activists staged protests on a broad, tree-lined avenue in front of the commission building in the capital.

Protesters clashed with police, who wielded batons and fired tear gas to disperse them before turning on journalists.

Sixty-four people were injured, including 13 police officials, 31 journalists, two opposition lawmakers and several passers-by, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported yesterday, citing an official statement issued overnight.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists decried the "shameful tactics" by a government that has claimed to promote press freedoms, said Mushtaq Minhas, president of the press club in Islamabad.

"What happened yesterday was shameful and the darkest day in Pakistan's history," Minhas said, accusing the government of increasing intolerance of independent media.

As part of the "black day," more than 400 people, many of them journalists wearing black armbands, rallied in Multan, in Punjab Province.

Chanting "Go Musharraf go" and "Stop oppression of journalists," the protesters, who also included opposition activists, marched near the press club and burned tires.

Meanwhile, key opposition parties vowed yesterday to lodge a last-ditch Supreme Court challenge aimed at stopping Musharraf from standing for re-election.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said it would challenge the commission's decision.

"We have decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday," Bhutto spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

He said the petition was being filed by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the vice-chairman of Bhutto's party, who is standing against Musharraf in the poll.

Musharraf's other rival is Wajihuddin Ahmad, a former judge who refused to swear allegiance to Musharraf after the 1999 coup in which he seized power.

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