With drums, petals and decorated horses, thousands of people gave Pakistan's suspended chief justice a festive welcome yesterday on his latest tour mustering support for his reinstatement.
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry arrived before dawn in this highway town where many people had stayed up all night waiting to hear him speak.
He had left Lahore early Saturday on a journey of 230km to the central city of Multan to address a lawyers' convention.
En route, thousands of people have showered him with fresh rose petals and chanted slogans against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who suspended him March 9 over allegations of misconduct.
"Go Musharraf, go" they chanted to drum beats, as villagers led decorated horses and camels in a traditional welcome. Some threw currency notes.
"Supremacy of law and judiciary is inevitable for the country," Chaudhry told the crowd of around 5,000.
"The legislature and administration must remain in their own jurisdiction and avoid interference in each others' affairs," he said.
The chief justice has become a symbol of resistance to the president.
He is currently leading a convoy of more than 150 vehicles on the latest of his cross-country processions that have jolted Musharraf.
Musharraf's suspension of Chaudhry has triggered the biggest threat to the president's eight-year hold on power since he assumed control in a bloodless coup.
More than 40 people were killed in clashes between rival political factions when Chaudhry tried to address a meeting in Karachi last month.
The opposition says Chaudhry was dismissed by Musharraf to smooth the path for his election for a second five-year term, defying the constitution which does not allow the military to hold on to power.
The Supreme Court is hearing Chaudhry's appeal against his suspension. A 13-member panel is due to resume hearings today.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of