Opposition activists arrested in Pakistan
Riot police arrested dozens of opposition activists protesting against President General Pervez Musharraf today as Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed two legal challenges to his re-election bid.
However, the nine-judge panel was still weighing five other petitions arguing that Gen Musharraf's dual role as army chief and president is illegal and that he is ineligible to seek another five-year term. Gen Musharraf has offered to resign from his military role if he wins the October 6 vote.
Opposition parties claimed hundreds of their members have been detained since police began taking their leaders into preventive custody late on Saturday for allegedly planning to foment unrest. Officials imposed a ban on gatherings of more than five people in the capital.
Roads leading to the court were blocked with barbed wire. Police arrested about 30 protesters who congregated a few hundred metres (yards) from the court shouting anti-Musharraf slogans as they punched their fists in the air.
"The US government hired a dog in uniform," protesters shouted, referring to the president's alliance with Washington.
Police chased some away from the court and used officers on horses to pursue others to points where they were rounded up.
Presiding Judge Rana Bhagwandas dismissed, without explanation, a petition filed by a retired government official arguing that Gen Musharraf should step down immediately as president.
He also rejected a complaint that the courts had failed to stop a constitutional amendment in 2003 that allowed Gen Musharraf to serve as both president and head of the military. Judge Bhagwandas said it was too late to address that grievance.
The court is expected to rule on the other petitions, which include complaints from opposition parties and a lawyers' organisation, later this week.
Pakistan's legal fraternity today named the first candidate to challenge Gen Musharraf in the vote by federal and provincial legislators.
"We have nominated well-respected Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed as our presidential candidate," Munir Malik, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told The Associated Press. He is expected to file his nomination papers on Thursday, the same day Gen Musharraf plans to do so.
Mr Ahmed is not seen as a legitimate contender, but his candidacy can be used to mount further legal challenges.
In addition to several opposition leaders arrested in police sweeps on Saturday night in Islamabad, others who were targeted went into hiding, calling the detentions a sign of desperation by the president.
A warrant served to Javed Hashmi, acting president of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N, said he would be jailed for 30 days to stop him from making inflammatory speeches at protests where "miscreants" could "cause disruption and acts of sabotage and terrorism".
Opposition parties claimed the round-ups continued last night, with more than 150 members of Mr Sharif's party and 70 members of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, or United Action Forum, picked up in several cities.
"The government is bent upon picking up every opposition man," said Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for Mr Sharif's party. "All fascist tactics are being used and all the state machinery is being exploited for the illegitimate rule of one man."
Newspapers questioned the justification for the crackdown after the Prime Minister had called opposition lawmakers' threat to resign from Parliament a sign of their helplessness.
"We advise the government to give up these politics of curbing opposition and tightening the noose around opposition leaders," leading Urdu-language daily newspaper Jang said in an editorial. "Instead, it should translate its claim of national reconciliation into action."
The sweeps mirrored tactics used to ensure no crowds turned out to welcome Mr Sharif when he tried to return from exile two weeks ago. Mr Sharif was swiftly expelled to Saudi Arabia.
Gen Musharraf's popularity and power have eroded since his botched effort to fire the Supreme Court's chief justice earlier this year. His administration is also struggling to contain a surge in Islamic militancy.
Gen Musharraf has called for moderate political forces to unite to defeat extremism and has held talks on a possible power-sharing deal with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who has vowed to return home on October 18 after eight years of self-imposed exile.
Ms Bhutto has also threatened to withdraw her lawmakers from Parliament if Gen Musharraf does not compromise.
