SC hears CJ plea as Karachi burns

MAKING PLEA: President Musharraf had suspended Chaudhry in March this year.

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New Delhi: A panel 14 Supreme Court judges will hear the petition of suspended Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has challenged the charges of misconduct leveled against him.

President Musharraf had suspended him in March this year.

The Muqaida Quami Movement MQM), an ally of the government, has also called for a strike on Monday.

Pakistan's commercial hub, Karachi braced itself for another tense day on Monday day as an opposition sponsored strike got underway leading the provincial Sindh government to impose prohibitory and shoot at sight orders to stem a wave of violence that has left more than 40 dead.

The provincial government has imposed the ban for a month to avoid more bloodshed and violence after two days of violence and clashes between rival political groups left around 41 people dead and more than 150 injured, the adviser to the Sindh government on Home Affairs Waseem Akhtar said.

Opposition parties under the banner of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy are holding the strike to protest the violence that started on Saturday and are demanding the resignation of the government.

They have accused the Mutthaida Qaumi Movement, a coalition partner in the Musharraf government, of engineering the violence which left 34 dead on Saturday and another seven on Sunday when the clashes also took on an ethnic colour with most of them occurring in areas dominated by the Pathans.

The strike came as the full bench of the Supreme Court began hearing the judicial reference filed against suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

President Musharraf has said the situation is under control tough, ruling out chances of an emergency being imposed.

Karachi braced itself for another tense day as an opposition sponsored strike got underway.

The government’s shoot at sight orders to stem the violence has left more than 40 dead.

(With agency inputs)

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