Stock market crash in Pakistan

Lawyers in different cities of Pakistan Monday staged violent protests against the imposition of emergency and removal of judges, while the Karachi stock exchange plummeted amid rumours that President Pervez Musharraf had been put under house arrest.

In the capital, there was an undeclared curfew around the Supreme Court (SC) building, parliament house, presidency, prime minister's secretariat and the diplomatic enclave where several foreign missions are located.

The entire leadership of opposition parties except for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) remained under house arrest or were sent to different jails. PPP chief Benazir Bhutto, who had been in power-sharing talks with President Pervez Musharraf, was conspicuous by her silence. Unconfirmed reports said she was in Islamabad and held a meeting with Musharraf.

About 200 lawyers tried to stage a protest near the SC building but they were baton-charged and many of them were arrested. Hundreds of lawyers are already under house arrest or detained in police stations. They include Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and about 60 other judges of the Supreme Court (SC) and four high courts. Human rights activists have also been detained.

The judges of the Supreme Court who had refused allegiance to Musharraf by refusing to take a new oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) Saturday tried to reach the SC building Monday but were stopped by policemen at the exit points of the judges' colony.

President Musharraf in his capacity as chief of the army staff imposed emergency in the country Saturday and issued the PCO under which he authorised himself to amend the constitution.

He also issued two ordinances curbing media freedom and restricting activities of the electronic and print media.

Lahore saw the most violent protests by lawyers Monday, where police baton-charged their rally and also fired tear-gas shells. Reports said that many of the lawyers were arrested.

Some of the lawyers succeeded in getting into the Lahore High Court building and threw flower petals on rooms of the judges who have not taken oath under the PCO.

Because of complete ban on electronic media, citizens were depending on hearsay and SMS services. Mobile telephone companies offering news service also remained closed without giving any reason.

"We have closed our news service for the time being," a Mobilink customer services representative told IANS while similar statements were given by other cellular companies.

"When truth is not available rumours do take place," Country Director for Internews, Adnan Rehmat, told IANS while commenting on rumours around the country that Musharraf had been arrested and vice chief of army staff General Ashfaq Kiani had taken over.

The rumour had a huge impact on Pakistan's major stock index, which plunged Monday afternoon as a result. Investors in the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) dumped shares, pulling the KSE-100 index down by 4.7 percent to 13,265 at 2 p.m.

However, spokesman for Inter Services Public Relations Maj-Gen Arshad Waheed was quick to dispel the rumour, saying: "Some unscrupulous elements were spreading these rumours that are baseless and unwarranted."

In Karachi, no lawyer was allowed to enter the Sindh High Court building and several leading lawyers including the president of the Sindh Bar Association were arrested. Those arrested included Sindh chief justice Sabihuddin Ahmed's son, who refused to take oath under PCO.

Reports said Justice Ahmed tried to leave his house for the court but was not allowed to go out by the police. He, however, said in a statement that he was still chief justice of the Sindh High Court and all steps being taken under the garb of emergency were illegal.

"Police beat us ruthlessly when we came to the Sindh High Court building in the morning and arrested a few dozen of our colleagues," lawyer Akhtar Hussain said.

Reports from other major cities like Peshawar, Quetta, Multan and Faisalabad said that lawyers in these cities protested against the emergency and demanded immediate restoration of all judges of the Supreme Court and high courts.