Imran starts fast until death for sacked judges

Islamabad: Former cricketer and jailed opposition leader Imran Khan went on a hunger strike on Monday to demand that President Pervez Musharraf restore independent judges fired under a state of emergency.

Imran, leader of the Tehrik-i-Insaf party, would continue the fast "until death" if the top judiciary was not reinstated, his spokesman Hafizullah Niazi told the Aaj news channel after visiting him in jail in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab.

Niazi that Imran was being kept in a cell with common criminals, some of them suspected of murder and other violent crimes.

Imran was taken to Dera Ghazi Khan from Lahore where he was held by radical Islamist students during a protest on Wednesday and handed over to the police, who charged him under the anti-terrorism act.

President General Pervez Musharraf purged the Supreme Court when he declared emergency rule more than two weeks ago, days before the tribunal was expected to decide on his eligibility to serve as president. The new court heard the case Monday and ruled in Musharraf's favor.

Opposition parties were quick to criticize the ruling, and Imran began his hunger strike shortly after the decision was handed down, although it wasn't immediately clear if it had been prompted by the court's move.

(With IANS and AP)

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