Pakistan cricket hero Khan detained
Police detained former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan, the leader of a small opposition party, at his Islamabad home ahead of a planned protest today against the US president’s visit.
Khan was leaving a friend’s home after dinner when he was served with a detention order, said Akbar Babar, a spokesman for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or Movement for Justice party.
Khan was driven in a convoy of four police vehicles to his home on the banks of a lake near the Pakistani capital, he said.
An official at the local police station said at least 10 police were posted outside Khan’s home but he could not confirm his house arrest. The official declined to be named as he wasn’t authorised to speak to media.
Earlier this week, Khan had announced he would lead a rally against Bush, marching to Islamabad from the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi. He declared that the US leader was “a symbol of repression whose policies have led to violation of human rights on a massive scale”. He also criticised Bush’s “support for dictatorship in Pakistan”, a reference to Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
Babar said Khan was put under house arrest to stop him from leading the rally and that police had also arrested dozens of party supporters.
He said the protest would go ahead.
“The rally will be definitely held,” Babar said. “We expect thousands of people to attend.”
Khan, the sole lawmaker for Tehreek-e-Insaf, is widely respected in Pakistan for leading the national cricket team to victory in the 1992 World Cup. Since retiring from the sports field, he has raised funds for social work including a cancer hospital.
He has often voiced fierce criticism of the US-led war on terror and Musharraf’s rule.
The six-party Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) or United Action Forum, an opposition religious alliance, called for people to fly black flags from their homes Saturday as a ”quiet” protest against Bush’s visit and his policies.
Leaders from the alliance would also stage protests in the cities of Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and join the rally planned by Khan’s party, said MMA lawmaker Liaqat Baluch.
