Islamabad Pakistan’s deputy army chief on Monday placed military ruler President Pervez Musharraf under house arrest. However, the government has denied rumours sweeping the country.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf denied rumours that he had been placed under house arrest by subordinates unhappy with his decision to impose emergency rule.
"It is a joke of the highest order," Musharraf told Reuters from the Presidency building in Islamabad where he had just met more than 80 foreign diplomats to explain his decision.
Media organisations received calls from cities all around Pakistan, including Karachi, where the stock market had fallen 4.7 per cent on the political uncertainty.
Clashes were also in Karachi and Multan as lawyers in major cities attempted to stage protests against Musharraf's Emergency declaration on Saturday that he says was a response to growing militant Islamic movement and a court system that hindered his powers.
Musharraf took the step despite the urging of Western allies against authoritarian measures. The Emergency declaration has deepened Pakistan's political uncertainty. Musharraf's government said Sunday that parliamentary elections could be delayed up to a year.
Alarmed about the unfolding crisis, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington was reviewing its aid to nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has received about $11 billion from the U.S. since it became a close ally in fighting terrorism in 2001. Britain also said it was examining its assistance.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's largest religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, reported that more than 500 of its workers and supporters had been detained since Sunday. Liaqat Baloch, a senior party leader, also said by telephone from Lahore that he had fled his home after hearing he would be placed under house arrest.
Lawyers were the driving force behind protests earlier this year against the U.S.-allied military leader when he made a failed attempt to fire the independent-minded chief justice. The move tarnished Musharraf's standing and spawned a pro-democracy movement that threatened to end his eight-year rule.
Musharraf finally removed the judge, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, on Saturday, just as the court was preparing to rule on whether the military chief's recent re-election as president was legal.
Investors took fright at the prospect of growing instability, sending the Karachi Stock Exchange's main share index down more than 4 per cent Monday.
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