Pakistan arrests political activists, lawyers

Pakistan arrested dozens of political activists and lawyers in Islamabad and across the country's biggest province Wednesday in a bid to thwart a planned protest march on the capital, police said. Thirty five political activists and lawyers were arrested in Islamabad during raids launched overnight and continuing beyond daybreak, a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity. Those rounded up include members of Pakistan's most popular opposition party, which is headed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was last month disqualified from contesting elections. A top leader in Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party, Raja Zafarul Haq, was placed under house arrest, police said. Police also searched in vain for cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who lives just outside the capital. Many lawyers and MPs have gone into hiding to avoid detention, and were unreachable by telephone at their homes and offices. In Lahore, the capital of Punjab province and Sharif's political heartland, police confirmed further arrests after authorities banned protests and ordered paramilitary troops to be on alert in a bid to prevent this week's planned "long march" demanding legal reforms. "Raids are being conducted at various places in the city and some arrests have been made," senior police official Amjad Saleemi told AFP. "The government has provided lists of people to police and raids are being made to arrest them," he added. Saleemi did not say who or how many people had been arrested. A government official told AFP he expected "hundreds of people" to be rounded up before the long march and that lists of "miscreants" were being prepared in districts across Punjab province. Pervez Malik, a local leader in PML-N, said police raided the homes of party MPs and arrested "dozens" of workers in Lahore. Ameer-al Azeem, the Lahore chief of opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami said that "some 15 to 20" workers in the organisation's youth wing had been detained. In the central Multan district, police arrested 28 workers from opposition parties, district PML-N chief, Allah Nawaz Noorani, told AFP. There was no immediate confirmation on the numbers from police. Lawyers and political activists are organising a protest from March 12-16 to demand President Asif ali Zardari make good on a promise to reinstate judges sacked by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.