Lawyers go On Strike

Lawyers throughout Pakistan launched a strike on 15 February 2010 to protest President Asif Ali Zardari's appointment of judges without consulting the Supreme Court. Lawyers held anti-Zardari demonstrations outside court buildings and government facilities in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta. Protesters burned several effigies of Zardari. The Supreme Court rejected two of Zardari's judicial appointments on 13 February, arguing that they were unconstitutional, as Zardari has not consulted the high court. Zardari has clashed with the judiciary on several occasions. In December 2009 the court overturned a controversial amnesty ordinance, resulting in the reopening of corruption cases against thousands of politicians, including Zardari, who now faces several legal challenges to his eligibility to serve as president. Lawyers have become politically influential in Pakistan since spearheading the effort to oust former President-General Pervez Musharraf.