As could have been expected, the lawyers' movement for unconditional withdrawal of the presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, is gaining momentum and the temperature is heating up.
On Tuesday, as the Supreme Judicial Council was hearing the reference case the lawyers protested all over the country by boycotting the courts and taking out rallies to express their solidarity with the Chief Justice, now on forced leave. Their biggest demonstration was held in front of the Supreme Court building. Like before, the opposition political parties too were present there, with the difference that their participation was more charged and in larger numbers.
The PPP had turned up in a big way, perhaps to wash away the impression that it had tried to strike a deal with President Pervez Musharraf. But the real difference between now and previous occasions was that it had turned into a show of force with the potential to end up in a bloody clash between the protestors and the ruling party supporters.
In democracies, governments generally do not resort to street demonstrations and marches against their opponents. They concede this right to protest, as it is invariably granted by every society, to the opposition. That kind of ambience had prevailed in the country since March 9 when the President filed the reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
The anti-President Musharraf demonstrations were clearly organised along the understanding that the lawyers and the political parties would hold separate rallies, despite the generally held belief that the genesis of the reference lies in the current phase of our national politics. But the high-profile receptions for Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in Sukkur, Hyderabad and Peshawar turned out to be the tipping the balance of public opinion from the official position to Justice Chaudhry's side.
It was perhaps then decided, somewhere in the inner sanctums of power, that not only the pro-Chief Justice demonstrations be checked but there should also be counter-demonstrations, whatever the risks. The one led by PML (Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Tuesday in support of the presidential reference was the first of this kind, to be followed by more, as reports indicate, in Lahore and Karachi.
While lawyers and opposition leaders and workers gathered at the gates of the Supreme Court, a considerably large pro-Musharraf rally comprising lawyers, some from other cities, and political workers were also moving towards the apex court. Standing atop the lead truck were Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and about half a dozen ministers.
The participants were carrying banners and flags strung on wooden rods of a kind used in axes which could be used as weapons in case of a brawl. On hearing that the pro-Musharraf rally was coming their way, a section of the protesting lawyers hurried towards the PML (Q) rally. They also carried flags on sticks which too could be used as weapons. A violent confrontation was thus in the making.
But rangers and other elements of riot police briskly moved in and averted a clash by creating between the two sides a no-go buffer zone. Alternately, for and against the President and the Chief Justice slogans were raised by both sides, as some participants put up a threatening posturing. However, not before long self-restraint prevailed and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain led away his 'lashkar', but not before leaving the message that next month the PML (Q) would hold another huge demonstration in Islamabad.
Ever since the judicial crisis erupted in the wake of presidential reference, the government side has claimed that the opposition is trying to politicise judicial matters. Accusing the opposition and the lawyers of raising pressure on the Supreme Judicial Council from outside, the government leaders advocated patience, often summing up their sermons on the note that whatever the verdict of the Council it would be accepted. Among the people, however, there were not very many takers of this claim.
Then the government started arresting opposition leaders and workers to undermine the pro-chief justice demonstrations. That too did not work. Then came this counter-demonstration which raised the tempers on both sides of the political-cum-legal divide by many notches. A bloody clash was averted this Tuesday; next time it may or may not be the same case.