Biggest threat to Pakistan's Musharraf stands 5-foot-7

LAHORE, Pakistan — He is one of the most dangerous men for the regime, so much so that police now stand outside his home with guns. Only family members are allowed to visit.

Aitzaz Ahsan, 62, hardly looks threatening. He stands maybe 5-foot-7, wears glasses and has gray hair parted down the middle. As one of the country's top lawyers, Ahsan is more comfortable arguing than wielding a weapon.

But he was the first person jailed when President Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. ally in the war on terror and then the country's army chief, declared a state of emergency Nov. 3. Police snatched Ahsan from his home in Islamabad and locked him in solitary confinement.

After being in prison for three weeks, Ahsan was moved Saturday to house arrest in Lahore so he could file for parliamentary elections. In recent days, the government has released thousands of political opponents jailed after the emergency was declared. Ahsan is one of a few government critics to remain confined.

"Aitzaz has emerged as the single most popular leader, not only with the bar but with the public," said Tariq Hassan, a senior lawyer and friend.

Ultimately, Ahsan's real chance to make a difference in the country will not come in parliament or even in court, now stacked with judges loyal to Musharraf. Instead, Ahsan and the country's other top lawyers could make a difference in the streets.

The lawyers have been the only ones to stage major anti-Musharraf rallies, which pressured the country's Supreme Court to start ruling against Musharraf. Further street protests are the only real threat to Musharraf's hold on power.

Ahsan, escorted by police to file his election papers Sunday, was greeted at the election commission by about 100 lawyers who hung garlands of flowers around his neck and shouted, "Go, Musharraf, go." Ahsan said he planned to run for office even though he thought the Jan. 8 elections would be rigged.

"There is martial law in the country, and I do not think free and fair elections are possible in the present situation," he said.

Ahsan helped represent the chief justice when Musharraf tried to fire him in March. The lawyer ran Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry's case like a political campaign, holding anti-Musharraf rallies that drew tens of thousands of protesters.

And in July, Ahsan and his allies won, as the Supreme Court reinstated Chaudhry and started ruling against Musharraf — revolutionary in a country where the judiciary traditionally rubber-stamps government and military moves.

As Musharraf's popularity plummeted, Ahsan's skyrocketed. In late October, Ahsan was almost unanimously elected president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, a powerful role here. Any decision that Musharraf announced, Ahsan publicly opposed.

Most crucial for the regime, Ahsan also stepped in as the chief lawyer in a Supreme Court case arguing that Musharraf could not legally be president and army chief.

Although Musharraf argues that he imposed the emergency because of a hostile judiciary and the rising threat from Islamic militants, many critics believe that Ahsan's court case was the real reason. They say Musharraf feared that Ahsan would win and the court would throw out his election.

As the decision neared, Musharraf declared the emergency. Police then arrested Ahsan and rounded up thousands of other troublesome lawyers and human-rights activists. Musharraf purged the Supreme Court, firing Chaudhry and other independent judges and put them under house arrest.

Ahsan and the three other lawyers leading the protests were separated and put in solitary confinement. Two are now in the hospital. The other was taken from prison to his hometown of Quetta on Monday to file election papers before being put back in prison.

Last week, in another setback for lawyers, a newly appointed Supreme Court, composed of Musharraf loyalists, threw out Ahsan's challenge to Musharraf's continued rule. Meanwhile, Ahsan sat in jail, before being moved to house arrest.

Ahsan, not allowed to talk to journalists except for his brief comments at the election commission, is no stranger to jail or house arrest. Since the late 1970s, he has been arrested at least 15 times. But this time, it is somehow different, said Bushra Aitzaz Ahsan, his wife of 34 years.

"I have never seen him in this mood," she said, sitting in her husband's law office, next door to their home. "He is always in a very fighting mood, you know. I think there is something that happened in jail this time that has really made him very unhappy."