ISLAMABAD |
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities arrested a top leader of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party and scores of opposition figures on Sunday in a countrywide crackdown after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule.
"Musharraf's days are numbered. The time has come to end the political role of the army," Javed Hashmi, acting president of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), told reporters before being whisked away by police in the central city of Multan.
In Karachi, the country's largest and most politically volatile city, police chief Azhar Ali Farooqi spelled out the uncompromising stand that has been ordered.
"Our soft policy is over now. We have zero tolerance. We will take action, arrest and use force if necessary," Farooqi said, as attention turned to what Pakistan's most potent opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, might do next.
Bhutto, who ended 8 years of self-imposed exile last month with Musharraf's blessing, returned to Karachi on Saturday evening after a short trip to Dubai and took a strong stand against what she called a "mini-martial" law.
But the litmus test will be whether she calls for street protests and risks arrest herself or seeks to persuade Musharraf to reverse his decision.
An official of her Pakistan People's Party said police were conducting raids to arrest their activists in central Punjab, the country's politically most influential province.
"So far, 200 activists of our party have been arrested," Farzana Raja, a party spokeswoman in Punjab said.
Opposition parties have also called for a strike in the southwestern province of Baluchistan for Monday.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the leader of an alliance of Islamist opposition parties and fierce Musharraf critic, planned to address a public meeting outside the eastern city of Lahore later on Sunday.
Tariq Mehmood, a leading anti-Musharraf lawyer, said most lawyers opposed to the military ruler were under house arrest or detained.
"It's the second takeover of the country by General Musharraf since 1999. He has not imposed emergency rule but has imposed martial law," Mehmood told Reuters from a police station where he was detained.
Police placed leading opposition figure and former cricket star Imran Khan under house arrest early on Sunday after he urged Pakistanis to take to the streets.
Khan told CNN Musharraf was to blame for Pakistan's problems and said emergency rule would not help.
"He never said how is he, through the emergency, going to do things that are any different. He was the absolute ruler, he had absolute control, so what was the impediment in his way to fight militancy and terrorism?"
Leading lawyer and opposition figure Aitzaz Ahsan was one of the first to be detained on Saturday.
"They have served me a detention order for 30 days," Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told reporters outside his home in the capital.
"One man has taken entire nation hostage... Time has come for General Musharraf to go," he said.
Several opposition figures and anti-Musharraf lawyers were also arrested in the southwestern city of Quetta, police said.
Pervez Musharraf in 2004. 
Hundreds of people were rounded up by security forces in Pakistan, one day after Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule, effectively martial law. Scores of opposition figures were among those detained.

Javed Hashmi, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) party, the party of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was arrested. "Musharraf's days are numbered. The time has come to end the political role of the army," he told reporters in Multan before being taken away by police. Nawaz Sharif said to an Indian news channel: "We have not witnessed such a grave situation in the 60 years of Pakistan's history."

Also arrested were pro-democracy attorney, Munir Malik, and the leader of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Asma Jehangir. Both have been involved in protests against Musharraf in past years. Troops also arrested the staff of the Commission and began to close off and surround government buildings.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who recently returned home, addressed supporters in Karachi. "This is a situation worse than an emergency. The people of Pakistan will not accept this," Bhutto said.

On Saturday, Musharraf laid out his reasons for the emergency rule. "Please do not expect or demand your level of democracy, which you learned over a number of centuries. Please also do not demand or expect your number of civil rights, human rights or civil liberties … Please give us time. For me and every Pakistani, Pakistan comes first," said Musharraf in a statement.

In a "charge sheet" levied against the judiciary, the government said: "... (T)here has been increasing interference by some members of the judiciary in government policy, adversely affecting economic growth, in particular," adding that there was "constant interference in executive functions."

The government further accused the judiciary of having "weakened the writ of the government, the police force ... been completely demoralised and ...fast losing its efficacy to fight terrorism, and intelligence agencies ... thwarted in their activities and prevented from pursuing terrorists."

Parliamentary elections may be delayed. The current Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz said, at a news conference, that the government is still committed to democracy, but "the government is deliberating on the election schedule."

"Now that we have emergency rule, parliament's term can be extended by one year," said Aziz. Pakistan was due to have a general election on January 15, 2008.
Presidential Palace on June 27, 2007.
Meanwhile, the United States has said it will review the financial aid that is providing Pakistan. United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters, while in Jerusalem: "Obviously we are going to have to review the situation with aid, in part because we have to see what may be triggered by certain statutes."

The US has given an estimated US$10 billion in aid to Pakistan since 2001, primarily for counter-terrorism. This year Pakistan is receiving about $700 million in assistance.

"We have to be very cognizant of the fact that some of the assistance that has been going directly to Pakistan is directly related to counter-terrorism missions. This is a complicated matter," Rice said. She also condemned the declaration of emergency rule, saying "it's highly regrettable that Pakistan's president has declared a state of martial law. The U.S. does not support extra constitutional measures."

US Senator Joe Biden, the chairperson on the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations agreed that a review is needed. "I'm not sure how much good that military aid we're giving him to fight the extremists is doing us anyway," he said on television program, ''Face the Nation''.

Tony Blair, special envoy for the Quartet on the Middle East said on ''Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer'': "The sooner that we return to the pledges to restore democracy that were set out, the better. But it's a very, very difficult situation this indeed, and it's a situation that if it's not resolved in the right way, I think it's extremely worrying for the whole of the world, not just for Pakistan."