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Pakistani Police Conduct Major Political Crackdown
ISLAMABAD, March 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies)- Pakistani police Wednesday arrested top opposition leaders after detaining more than 2,000 political workers in a major sweep ahead of a rally later this week, party officials said.
"We have arrested 22 leaders from the place where they were meeting," in Lahore, police officer Mushtaq Bargat said from the eastern city.
Bargat did not give any reason for the arrest, but party officials said the action was part of the military government's campaign to stop them from holding a public meeting in Lahore on Friday on the occasion of the country's national day.
The rally has been planned by the 18-party Alliance for Restoration of Democracy.
Those taken into custody included ARD head Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and leaders from former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and from the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), headed by deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Police late Wednesday said they had released Khan and PML acting president Javed Hashmi.
Two other ARD leaders, Asfandyar Wali and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, were also released but expelled from Punjab for an indefinite period, they said.
Opposition leaders earlier said more than 2,000 political workers had been detained to prevent the rally planned by the ARD.
Bhutto slammed the arrests in a statement released by her party here.
"The police raid on the venue of the ARD meeting showed that the regime had feet of clay and was scared of the masses," she said.
"The brutal and barbaric manner in which the police raided the venue inside a private residential complex without any provocation has only confirmed the vulnerability of the regime."
"More than 2,000 people have been arrested all over Punjab," said Qasim Zia, provincial ARD chief.
Zia, head of the Punjab chapter of Bhutto's party, said police had arrested former MPs, ex-ministers and almost all PPP zonal chiefs.
He said at least 250 people, including the former mayor of the Punjab capital Lahore, were arrested in the eastern city where the ARD had scheduled its "peaceful protest" on Friday.
"We feel it is our fundamental right to observe the day. If we cannot observe Pakistan Day in Pakistan then where should we go?" Zia said.
Police spokesman Gulzar Mashhadi dismissed the opposition claims as "highly exaggerated" and insisted only about 113 people were in police custody.
Others had been released Tuesday, he said.
Residents in Lahore said police had already sealed the Mochi Gate area in the heart of the city, the planned venue of the demonstration and a common starting point for mass protest movements in Pakistan.
Military ruler General Pervez Musharraf has banned outdoor political gatherings, suspended parliament and the constitution, and launched a tough anti-corruption drive against former politicians since he seized power in a coup in 1999, toppling the government of Nawaz Sharif.
The PPP and Sharif's now divided Pakistan Muslim League - Pakistan's main parties and former bitter enemies - have joined forces under the ARD to challenge military rule.
Bhutto, who has lived in exile since shortly before her 1999 corruption conviction, has said her bags are packed to return to Pakistan to lead the opposition movement.
Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia late last year under a deal with the military authorities in which he was pardoned of lengthy prison terms and banned from holding public office for 21 years.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) condemned the detentions and warned that the political void in Pakistan was creating fertile ground for religious activists.
"The mass arrests suggest a continued determination on the part of the regime to hold back democracy and deter political parties from legitimate activities," said the HCRP.
Commonwealth ministers meeting in London Tuesday expressed "concern over the harassment of political parties" in Pakistan.
The BBC reports that on Tuesday, the Commonwealth warned the military government that it must announce dates for provincial and national elections and said if a definite timetable was not forthcoming, it would pursue a tougher line against Pakistan.
For its part, the military government has complained that the Commonwealth has overlooked its efforts to restore what it called genuine democracy and institution building.
"Regrettably the Commonwealth fails to take note of these unprecedented reforms, which will be the building blocks of democracy in the country," said a foreign ministry statement.
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