Poll ruling sparks riots in Pak

A Pakistani minister was beaten up by angry journalists on Saturday as riot police clashed with lawyers and opposition activists agitating against President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election bid...

A Pakistani minister was beaten up by angry journalists on Saturday as riot police clashed with lawyers and opposition activists agitating against President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election bid, leaving scores of people injured.

Police used batons and fired tear gas shells to disperse the slogan shouting lawyers who were carrying black flags and turned their ire on journalists and TV cameramen covering the protests live near the Election Commission office.

A day after the Supreme Court quashed several legal challenges to Musharraf’s bid for a new five-year term, the Election Commission gave its nod of approval, said Kanwar Dilshad, a top commission official.

Angry over the police action, journalists pulled out Minister of State for Information Tariq Azim, who tried to get out of the Election Commission in an ambulance, and thrashed him, TV channels reported.

Azim had along with PM Shaukat Aziz gone to the EC to witness the scrutiny of nomination papers. The minister was rescued by a police patrol.