government demonstrators attacked banks and shops and lawmakers scuffled with police amid gathering political turmoil Thursday triggered by a court ruling barring two opposition leaders from elected office. The conflict comes as Pakistan's pro-Western government faces strong US pressure to crack down on Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants and a punishing economic crisis. Wednesday's Supreme Court rulings upheld an existing ban on Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections because of a criminal conviction related to the 1999 military coup by former President Pervez Musharraf. Sharif second term as prime minister was ended in that ouster. The rulings also removed his brother as head of the government in Punjab, Pakistan's richest and most populous province. A nervous government put paramilitaries on alert and police arrested 30 lawmakers in what marked the biggest protests against President Asif Ali Zardari since he assumed office last September. Addressing a mass rally in the Punjab town of Sheikhupura, Sharif said the Supreme Court had inflicted “tremendous harm” but the nation had risen up. “This gathering is a referendum against Zardari,” he said - securing a pledge from the crowd to march next month demanding the reinstatement of constitutional court judges sacked by former ruler Pervez Musharraf. Sharif's brother Shahbaz lost his post as chief minister of Punjab province where the government suspended the provincial parliament, bringing it under Islamabad's direct control. “Go and start sitting in the Punjab assembly. People neither accept the governor or governor's rule. These judges cannot disqualify you,” said Sharif. In Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city and capital of Sharif's political heartland, thousands of people stormed the barricades for a sit-in outside the governor's residence, punching their fists in the air, witnesses said. A crowd of up to 5,000 protesters torched two large hoardings showing Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and beat pictures of Zardari with sticks and shoes before setting them ablaze. Hundreds more rallied elsewhere in Lahore. “The Punjab government has requested the deployment of the Rangers and we have accepted their request,” a spokesman for the interior ministry said, referring to a paramilitary force. Hundreds rallied in Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Muzaffarabad. In Lahore, police briefly detained about 30 lawmakers outside parliament while riot police armed with truncheons and tear gas stood guard. Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani said the main ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) wanted to continue a policy of national reconciliation. “If the situation does not improve the courts will not be able to stop an army take over,” said former cricketer Imran Khan.
