The Hindu : Front Page : Jitters over Sharif’s call for ‘long march’

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Tuesday, Mar 10, 2009
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Jitters over Sharif’s call for ‘long march’

Nirupama Subramanian

Interior Ministry head warns against creating a “1971-like situation”

ISLAMABAD: Jittery over an upcoming “long march” to the Pakistan capital by lawyers and the Opposition Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League (N) demanding the restoration of the deposed Chief Justice, Ifthikar Chaudhary, a top government functionary on Monday warned against creating a “1971-like situation” that saw the country splitting.

The “long march” is set to begin on March 15 from Lahore, and its organisers have threatened that the rallyists, upon reaching the capital the next day, will stage an indefinite dharna near the Parliament buildings until their demand is met.

Addressing a large gathering at Jhelum in the Punjab province, Mr. Sharif, in battle-mode against President Asif Ali Zardari after the Supreme Court barred him and his brother Shahbaz from elected office, declared that “only a revolution can now change Pakistan.”

The first step, he said in a charged speech — the latest in a series of public meetings he has addressed since his disqualification — was the restoration of Mr. Chaudhary and other judges dismissed by the former President, Pervez Musharraf, during his November 2007 emergency.

Mr. Sharif pledged to march on the capital along with lawyers, and asked the people too to come out on the streets, declaring that only by doing this could they change their destiny.

Mr. Sharif asked policemen not to take “illegal and unconstitutional” orders from the Punjab Governor-led provincial government, which assumed charge after dismissing the Shahbaz Sharif-led PML(N) government following its disqualification.

In the capital, Rehman Malik, who heads the Interior Ministry, addressed a press conference, where he termed Mr. Sharif’s utterances seditious.

“I appeal to the political leadership that is going on the ‘long march’ not to make statements creating a law and order situation. Please, for God’s sake, don’t create a situation like 1971,” Mr. Malik said, in a reference to the year in which East Pakistan became Bangladesh.

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