Musharraf Heckled during first parliamentary address in Pakistan

[rooboy]

On CNN International (tv only at this stage - no link yet). Apparently opposition members were banging their desks and shouting out during his speech. At least one oppositon member who was flying to Islamabad to hear the speech found their plane boarded by commandos and diverted to Peshawar, apparently to prevent them from attending.

Commandos still surround the plane on the tarmac as I type. CNN thinks that other planes may have been diverted.

Will supply link when available.

[La_Serpiente]

1. Did they grab the books and slam them on their desks?

I saw that happen one time to Musharraf via CNN.

[rooboy]

3. Cameras appeared to be carefully trained on Musharraf the whole time...

from what I saw.

[0007]

4. What news source were you watching?

[Aidoneus]

2. they've been studying PMQs?

:)

Busharraf is not a well-liked figure, but that's never stopped any other of America's military dictators over the world from earning their pay (well, "never stopped" them at first..eventually it gets back to them, and sometimes to "us", but the two are obviously completely unrelated and the latter is really motivated only by jealousy and hatred of our freedoms).

[NNN0LHI]

5. Bush says Musharraf a good dictator n/t

[leftchick]

6. I saw this covered on NWI today....

apparently the people pounding were Musharaff supporters. The camera would not show the protesters. The were Screaming, not heckling, "Down With Dictators" The little dictator looked very uncomfortable.

[leftchick]

7. here is a BBC link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3404375.stm

[IndianaGreen]

8. CNN: Parliamentary chaos in Pakistan

Musharraf is a tin pot dictator that toppled the democratically elected government when the Prime Minister fired him as Defense Minister.

Parliamentary chaos in Pakistan
Saturday, January 17, 2004 Posted: 8:25 AM EST (1325 GMT)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (CNN) -- Two planes carrying Pakistani lawmakers Saturday were diverted from Islamabad, preventing the parliamentarians from attending an address by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Tehmina Daulatana, a member of the National Assembly for the opposition Pakistan Muslim League, told CNN by phone from inside one of the planes that it had been "hijacked" by the government of President Pervez Musharraf.

In Islamabad, Musharraf addressed a joint session of parliament for the first time since he took power in a bloodless coup more than four years ago.

The session was rowdy, with Musharraf facing calls for his ouster from some lawmakers, while others banged their palms on tables in support of the president.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/01/17/pakistan.musharraf/index.html

[LoneStarLiberal]

9. Some Flight Diversions, Too

Yep, there were some flight diversions involved in this as well.

If you've ever flown on a PIA internal flight, any landing not involving the word "crash" is a damned good one.