Pakistan Long March

In 2007, President Musharraf declared emergency rule in Pakistan and removed more than 60 judges from power. Musharraf's move was seen by many as an attempt to consolidate his hold on power after the Pakistan Supreme Court ruled that he was ineligible to hold the post of President.

President Zardari has invited comparisons to Musharraf because of his government’s use of police force and mass arrests to prevent the long march, as Musharraf did after suspending Choudhry in March 2007 and imposing Emergency rule in Nov 2007.

The irony is illustrated by the recent three-hour detention of the firebrand women’s rights and political activist, Tahira Abdullah, who has been mobilizing the lawyers’ movement from her home in Islamabad. She faced police batons and tear gas in the Zia and Musharraf eras. A day before the long march began, a police contingent arrived at her house and virtually broke down her kitchen door. However, her arrest attracted media attention, embarrassing the government into quickly ordering her release. An undeterred Abdullah immediately resumed mobilising for the agitation.

Pakistan's Long March 2009

In March, 2009, lawyers and opposition political parties under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, who was re-elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan later in 2013, undertook a long march from Karachi to Islamabad to demand the reinstatement of a Supreme Court Chief Justice and other judges ousted from office by former President Pervez Musharraf. The long march was successful and the reinstatement of the judges was announced by the then-Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on TV.

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