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Gunmen shoot up house of Pakistani justices' lawyer

Unidentified assailants fired shots at the home of a lawyer for Pakistan's suspended chief justice yesterday, injuring no one but adding to a sense of crisis rocking Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's hold on power.

The attorney, Munir Malik, and local police said about 15 shots were fired before dawn toward the house in Karachi, two of which penetrated an upstairs lounge where Malik said his 17-year-old daughter was sitting at a computer.

The attack came two days before a planned rally in the southern city, Pakistan's biggest, in support of Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the embattled head of Pakistan's Supreme Court.

Malik, who is president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said it was part of a campaign of intimidation against those working for the reinstatement of Chaudhry, whose ouster by Musharraf has provoked two months of mass protests and calls for the general to step down.

"It will not deter me from representing the chief justice and we will carry on our campaign for the independence of the judiciary," Malik, still in his pajamas, told reporters at his house in an upscale neighborhood of the city.

He stopped short of naming any specific suspects.

Zia Rivzi, a local police official, said investigators collected about 15 spent shell casings from the scene. He said the shooting was "apparently an attempt to create harassment," but didn't elaborate.

Spokespeople for the central government in the capital, Islamabad, were not immediately available for comment, but the provincial administration of Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital, condemned the shooting.

"The government will leave no stone unturned to reach to the depth of this incident and the culprits will be brought to book," Sindh government spokesman Salahuddin Haider said.

Lawyers across Karachi boycotted court proceedings to protest the attack on Malik's home, said Naeem Qureshi, the secretary general of the Karachi Bar Association.

Pakistan has been slipping toward political crisis ever since Musharraf suspended Chaudhry on March 9 over allegations of misconduct.

The government insists the move was nonpolitical and said it has evidence that Chaudhry sought unwarranted favors for himself and relatives -- something the judge denies.

But its action has enraged lawyers, drawn wide condemnation in the media and galvanized Pakistan's fragmented political opposition, which is intensifying its campaign against Musharraf's plan to seek another term as president later this year.

Critics accuse Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and remains head of the army, of trying to remove Chaudhry, in case of legal challenges to his continued rule. The judge has a reputation for independence and challenging the government.
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