A top Islamic alliance leader in Pakistan was on Monday put under house arrest to prevent him from holding a protest rally against suspension of Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry, who will on Tuesday appear before a panel of judges hearing charges of misuse of power against him.As a preventive measure, police put President of Muttahida Majlis-e Amal Qazi Hussain Ahmed under house arrest and stepped up security in the capital.
Hussain, who was due to lead a protest rally in Islamabad on Tuesday coinciding with the next sitting of the five-judge Supreme Judicial Council hearing charges against Chaudhry, has been detained, his Secretary Attaur Rehman told media in Islamabad.
A number of leaders and sympathisers, including former Inter Services Intelligence Chief Gen (Retired) Hamid Gul, protested against Hussain's house arrest, and were allowed to meet him.
MMA General Secretary Fazlur Rehman said he would now lead the rally. Besides MMA, a number of political parties as well as the Supreme Court Bar Council and lawyers' organisations of different cities announced plans to hold protests on Tuesday.
Chaudhry, who was suspended by President Pervez Musharraf on March 9, apparently has not filed any reply to the charges of misuse of power and misconduct against him. Instead in the last two hearings, he raised procedural objections as well as his reservations about credentials of judges of the SJC against whom he instituted disciplinary proceedings.
The main charge against Chaudhry was that he misused his authority to get a senior officer's posting in police.
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