Pakistan President Faces Open Revolt

The Guardian reports today that the revolt of the lawyers in Pakistan, which I've been following this week, is spreading and that people are beginning to think this may turn into a major problem for Musharaff.

Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, is facing one of the most brazen challenges to his seven-year rule, as a battle of wills with the country's leading judge has escalated into a powerful protest movement that has caught the government by surprise.

For the past week Gen Musharraf has been trying to force the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a feisty judge with a history of confronting the government, to resign. But in a rare show of defiance by a civilian official, Justice Chaudhry has refused to go, triggering the first big confrontation with the president from the Pakistani establishment.

Enraged lawyers, who have taken to the streets burning effigies of Gen Musharraf and engaging in bloody clashes with the police, kept up their campaign of agitation yesterday. Gen Musharraf's opponents are promising to bring thousands of protesters on to the streets again tomorrow, when Justice Chaudhry's case is due to go back to court.

The government accuses Mr Chaudhry of misconduct and misuse of authority, but the allegations have been overshadowed by public anger at the government's aggressive tactics. The defiant stand has turned the 58-year-old judge into an unlikely popular hero.

"He took a lot of strong decisions to free victims of this government. He is very good," said Farooq, a barber in Islamabad, as he watched a televised debate yesterday.

The stand is unprecedented. Since Gen Musharraf - a commando by training - seized power in 1999, civilians in the bureaucracy and judiciary have meekly obeyed his orders. Analysts say he has badly miscalculated this time. "It was an arrogant move that has eroded his credibility. Everything that has happened since reeks of panic," said Abbas Nasir, editor of Dawn newspaper.

...For the first time a phrase is being quietly spoken in the country's political drawing rooms: the beginning of the end. But others urge caution. "This is the first time civil society has led a rebellion, but it may not lead to anything," said Mr Nasir. "Civil society against a half-million strong army is no match."

On Monday two television channels were briefly taken off air for showing images of bloodied lawyers being beaten by police.

There's far more at the link. Well worth a read and a story definitely worth keeping an eye on.