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| Sunday, 17 April 2005 |
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Pakistani police detain Bhutto's husband on arrival at airport LAHORE, Pakistan, Saturday (AFP) Pakistani police Saturday detained former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's husband at the airport as he flew in from Dubai to launch a political movement for democracy, witnesses and his party said. A squad of elite police commandos barged into a private jet as it landed at Allama Iqbal International Airport in the eastern city of Lahore at dawn carrying Asif Ali Zardari, his political aides and media representatives. Outside the airport, baton-wielding police attacked dozens of Pakistan Peoples Party workers who had defied a tough crackdown and managed to sneak in through a chain of pickets close to the airfield, witnesses said. Zardari was whisked away in a heavily guarded police van to his Bilawal house residence located near the airport where he was put under virtual house arrest, the party said. Some 30 prominent Pakistan Peoples Party leaders including federal and provincial lawmakers were arrested when they tried to reach Bilawal's house to meet Zardari, party spokesman Naveed Chaudhry told AFP. Lahore police chief Aftab Cheema however denied Zardari was arrested and said the police action was to protect him, saying Zardari's associates had asked for security assistance. The second largest Pakistani city was effectively sealed by thousands of police ahead of Zardari's arrival and party officials claimed several thousand Peoples Party workers were rounded up in Punjab, of which Lahore is the capital. The party said workers were also arrested en-masse in southern Sindh province and other regions. The Punjab government ruled by Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi, a staunch ally of President Pervez Musharraf, said it ordered the crackdown to stop Zardari from leading a rally. Bhutto's husband was released from an eight-year sentence in December
last year after a court granted him bail in the last of a string of
corruption and murder charges pending against him. |
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