Police in Pakistan clash with lawyers protesting constitutional suspension

Police fired tear gas and clubbed thousands of lawyers protesting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s decision to impose emergency rule, as Western allies threatened to review aid to the troubled Muslim nation. Opposition groups put the number of arrests at 3,500, although the government reported half that.\nMusharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and is also head of Pakistan’s army, suspended the constitution on Saturday ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on whether his recent re-election as president was legal. He ousted independent-minded judges, put a stranglehold on independent media and granted sweeping powers to authorities to crush dissent.\nThe attorney general called Monday for the polls to be held on time, but Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz left open the possibility for a delay.\nUnder intense pressure from the United States and other Western allies to hold elections as scheduled in January, Musharraf said Monday he would relinquish control of the military and return the country to “the same track as we were moving” but he gave no indication when the vote would take place.\n“I am determined to remove my uniform once we correct these pillars – the judiciary, the executive, and the parliament,” Musharraf was quoted by state-run Pakistan Television as telling foreign ambassadors \nMonday.\n“I can assure you there will be harmony ... confidence will come back into the government, into law enforcement agencies and Pakistan will start moving again on the same track as we were moving.”\nPublic anger was mounting in the nation of 160 million people, which has been under military rule for much of its 60-year history, but demonstrations so far have been limited largely to activists, rights workers and lawyers – angered by his attacks on the judiciary. All have been quickly and sometimes brutally stamped out.\nSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington was reviewing its assistance to Pakistan, which has received billions of dollars in aid since Musharraf threw his support behind the U.S.-led war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.\nAt a news conference in the West Bank on Monday, she urged the army chief to follow through on past promises to “take off his uniform.”\n“I want to be very clear,” she said, as a team of U.S. defense officials postponed plans to travel to Islamabad for talks Tuesday because of the crisis. “We believe that the best path for Pakistan is to quickly return to a constitutional path and then to hold elections.”\nDefense Secretary Robert Gates suggested that military aid may not be affected because the Bush administration does not want to disrupt its partnership with Pakistan in fighting al-Qaida and other militants.\nBritain said it had no current plans to change the $493 million it has budgeted in aid to Pakistan over three years.\nThe Dutch government suspended development assistance, becoming the first country to do so.\nAssociated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad, Ashraf Khan in Karachi, Khalid Tanweer in Multan and Zia Khan in Lahore contributed to this report.