Pakistani police have detained more than 2,000 politicians and their supporters in a major sweep of opposition leaders ahead of a Pakistan Day rally later this week, party officials said Wednesday.
They said raids on party members' homes in the central province of Punjab continued overnight Tuesday as the military regime tried to prevent the demonstration to demand the restoration of democracy.
"More than 2,000 people have been arrested all over Punjab," said Qasim Zia, provincial chief of the 18-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD).
Zia, head of the Punjab chapter of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, 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 has scheduled its "peaceful protest" on Friday.
"Top ARD leaders are coming to Lahore and we are going to hold the meeting," Zia said.
"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 leaders of ARD coalition partners would meet in Lahore late Wednesday to prepare for Friday's rally and "discuss the situation arising out of the arrests."
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, stressing that "no more raids are being conducted now."
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 famous 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.
Police have said the wave of detentions were ordered under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.
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.
PPP chief Benazir 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.
Shrugging off threats from the military that she could be arrested, two-time prime minister Bhutto has said she is waiting for a mass opposition movement to begin before making her return.
Her erstwhile rival 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.
Commonwealth ministers on Tuesday expressed "concern over the harassment of political parties" and warned Pakistan that it could face "stronger measures" from the global body if it does not do more to revive democracy.
Pakistan was suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth after Musharraf took power.
The second phase of local body elections got underway in Pakistan Wednesday under Musharraf's devolution plan to end the "sham democracy" of previous governments.
He has promised general elections by October 12, 2002, three years after the coup -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
