Islamabad, June 13: Police ringed Pakistan's Parliament today after the opposition threatened to bring protestors onto the streets and President Pervez Musharraf refused to concede to their demand to quit as Army chief. Armed with batons, riot police stood outside the parliament building in an apparent show of force while lawmakers debated the national budget and the opposition boycotted the proceedings for the fourth day running.
Opposition deputies, chanting slogans against Musharraf's amendments in the Constitution to consolidate his grip on power, walked out of the house. Police downplayed the deployment, saying the move was to prevent a rally of farmers outside the Parliament.
Musharraf, unruffled by the opposition's relentless campaign against his self declared rule, yesterday accused them of taking dictation from his key rivals and former prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who both live abroad in exile. He said the opposition's demand that he reverse sweeping constitutional changes was only "an issue for two political parties who take guidance from abroad."
The president charged that the opposition was trying to blackmail him into a compromise, referring to a list of islamisation demands submitted by the powerful Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance of religious parties. Bureau Report