Riot police arrested dozens of opposition activists protesting against President Pervez Musharraf yesterday as Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed three legal challenges to his reelection bid.
However, the nine-judge panel was still weighing seven other petitions arguing that Musharraf's dual role as army chief and president is illegal and that he is ineligible to seek another five-year term. Musharraf has offered to resign his military role if he wins the Oct. 6 vote.
Opposition parties claimed hundreds of their members have been detained since police began taking their leaders into preventive custody late on Saturday for allegedly planning to foment unrest.
Officials imposed a ban on gatherings of more than five people in the capital.
Roads leading to the court were blocked with barbed wire. Police arrested about 30 protesters who congregated a few hundred meters from the court shouting anti-Musharraf slogans as they punched their fists in the air.
"The US government hired a dog in uniform," protesters shouted, referring to the president's alliance with Washington.
Police chased some away from the court and used officers on horses to pursue others to points where they were rounded up.
Presiding Judge Rana Bhagwandas dismissed, without an explanation, a petition filed by a retired government official arguing that Musharraf should step down immediately as president.
He also rejected a complaint that the courts had failed to stop a constitutional amendment in 2003 that allowed Musharraf to serve as both president and head of the military. Bhagwandas said it was too late to address that grievance.
A third petition was dismissed because the lawyer who had filed it failed to appear.
During the hearing, Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum defended Musharraf's plans to run, saying he was an eligible candidate. Proceedings were later adjourned until today.
The court is expected to rule on the other petitions, which include complaints from opposition parties and a lawyers' organization, later this week.
As he was entering the court building, Ahmed Raza Qasuri -- Musharraf's lawyer -- was sprayed in the face with a black substance by an agitated attorney.
Kasuri, complaining that his eyes had been affected, said the incident was a sign that Musharraf's opponents were losing their case.
"When such elements sense their defeat, they resort to such provocative acts," he told reporters. "They are a black spot on the legal profession."
Pakistan's legal fraternity yesterday named the first candidate to challenge Musharraf in the vote by federal and provincial legislators.
"We have nominated ... Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed as our presidential candidate," said Munir Malik, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
He is expected to file his nomination papers on Thursday, the same day Musharraf plans to do so.
Ahmed is not seen as a legitimate contender, but his candidacy can be used to mount further legal challenges.
In addition to several opposition leaders arrested in police sweeps on Saturday night in Islamabad, others who were targeted went into hiding, calling the detentions a sign of desperation by the president.
A warrant for Javed Hashmi, acting president of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N, said that he would be jailed for 30 days to stop him from making inflammatory speeches at protests where "miscreants" could "cause disruption and acts of sabotage and terrorism."
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