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.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS