Pakistan constitution said "ripped to shreds"

The arrests of lawyers and the upheaval in Pakistan should be causing a great deal of concern here in the US, it's obvious when reading this Washington Post article, Ousted Pakistani Chief Justice Urges Lawyers to Continue Protests that there is freedom at stake here. While some lawyers are protesting, others have gone into hiding:

Under house arrest since his firing along with six other Supreme Court judges, Chaudhry reached a gathering of lawyers in the capital via cell phone and told them to "go to every corner of Pakistan and give the message that this is the time to sacrifice," the Associated Press reported. "Don't be afraid. God will help us, and the day will come when you'll see the constitution supreme and no dictatorship for a long time."

While some political opponents and rights activists also participated in the protests -- the most significant since Musharraf declared emergency rule Saturday -- it was the lawyers who dominated. In recent months, they have clashed repeatedly with a government they accuse of interfering with the judiciary, and on Monday, they voiced outrage over the president's decision to suspend the constitution and fire a group of dissident Supreme Court justices.

Equally disturbing is the reports of arrests of human relief workers and the fact that non-government owned media has been kept off the air for the third day in a row. This makes getting information about what is happening even more difficult.