Bhutto put under house arrest
LAHORE, Pakistan — The Pakistani government early today placed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto under house arrest for seven days and said her party would be barred from holding a major procession to protest emergency rule.
Later, in a telephone interview with the Reuters news service, Bhutto called for military leader Pervez Musharraf to step down as president and said she would never serve as prime minister under him.
Bhutto has long called for Musharraf to step down as army chief and become a civilian president, but it was the first time she had called for him to quit as president altogether.
Bhutto had planned to lead the procession later today from Lahore to Islamabad, the capital, more than 200 miles to the west by road.
But the government said it had intelligence suggesting a suicide bombing targeting Bhutto had been planned and that her detention, in a party activist’s home in Lahore, was for her own safety.
Police had erected barricades around the house, and snipers were posted on neighborhood rooftops.
An aide to Bhutto said her supporters would sweep away the barricades and allow her to embark on the planned three-day procession.
However, police swiftly detained about 50 Bhutto supporters, including two lawmakers, who approached the barricades shouting slogans including “Go Musharraf go!”
“They are depriving us of our fundamental right to protest against authoritarian rule and hold a long march for the revival of democracy,” Yusuf Raza Gilani, a former speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly, told reporters as he was led away.
Police said that while up to 30 people were arrested, Gilani was merely taken back to his home.
Farzana Raja, a spokeswoman for Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, claimed thousands of its activists had been rounded up to thwart the march. Raja too was detained.
The opposition had vowed Monday to push ahead with plans for the procession, but it was unclear how many demonstrators would turn out, given the government’s order and the fact that Bhutto would be prevented from participating.
Tariq Azim Khan, a government spokesman, said that even without Bhutto, the procession would not be permitted under the emergency rule Musharraf imposed Nov. 3.
“All rallies, all political gatherings, are outlawed,” Khan said.
The opposition leader was the target of a suicide attack in the southern city of Karachi on Oct. 18 during a celebration marking her return from eight years in exile. An estimated 145 people were killed.
“We appeal to all people, including from other parties and minorities, women and children, to take part in this long march,” Bhutto said Monday.
Opposition parties threatened Monday to boycott elections planned for Jan. 9 unless emergency rule were lifted. With opposition leaders jailed and independent news media blocked, they said, a free and fair vote was impossible.
In London, meanwhile, the 53-nation Commonwealth, made up mostly of former British colonies and dependencies, threatened to suspend Pakistan’s membership unless Musharraf repeals the emergency decree, steps down as army chief, releases political detainees, removes media restrictions and acts rapidly to create conditions for free and fair elections.
The foreign ministers agreed to review Pakistan’s progress at their next meeting, on Nov. 22.
The government’s moves Monday were the latest setbacks for the opposition since Musharraf declared emergency rule, fired several Supreme Court justices and suspended the constitution.
A key ally in U.S. counterterrorism efforts, Musharraf said the moves were essential if he were to have a freer hand in battling extremism. However, Western diplomats and even his aides have said privately his main objective was to stop the Supreme Court from ruling his Oct. 6 re-election invalid.
Information from The Washington Post, Reuters and The Associated Press is included in this report.