Information and Broadcasting Minister Mohammad Ali Durani has condemned the police action on journalists and said the Government had ordered an inquiry into the incidents.

Similar rallies in support of press freedom were held in other cities including Karachi, Peshawar, Multan, as well as tribal areas where the army is fighting pro-Taliban militants.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Sunday ordered Islamabad’s top administration and police officials to provide explanations to the Supreme Court on Monday to explain why force was used against lawyers and journalists.

Meanwhile, a civil judge-cum-judicial magistrate resigned against the Supreme Court’s judgment on petitions against Musharraf and resolved to join the legal fraternity in their struggle for the independence of judiciary.

Civil judge Ijaz Ahmad, who is stationed in Abbottabad in North West Frontier Province, submitted one-month's notice to the Peshawar High Court stating that from October 29 he might be treated as having resigned. He said the Supreme Court judgment of September 28 allowing Musharraf to contest the presidential poll had demolished all that had been achieved over the past three months.

The Election Commission on Saturday approved the nomination of six candidates, including Musharraf, overruling objections by the Opposition to the General’s candidature for another term.