Protest in Pakistan

A year ago President Musharraf claimed there was a need to crack down on activist judges who were freeing terrorists from prison. Critics called that a lie and took to the streets and many of those same people took to the streets again today. Among the largest complaints was the firing of Chief Justice Chowdry, who many believe was on the verge of ruling against Musharraf’s disputed reelection for a third term as president. Today he spoke of the ground swell of support that began a year ago. But many say last year’s support has waned. For one thing, many of the fired judges have agreed to go back on the bench before Chowdry was reinstated and the issue just isn’t as hot as it was a year ago because there’s a new elected government. But during his election campaign, the current president promised to reinstate Chowdry and the other fired judges, or did he? This analyst says the president’s party, the PPP, has played the situation brilliantly by both denying making such statements but also never having said they won’t bring the judges back. So justice is a nice concept when you’re not worried about putting food on your table. Critics also say if Chowdry came back, he would reopen cases investigation corruption by some PPP members.