LAHORE, 29 January 2006 — Police said yesterday they had arrested over 150 activists after they threatened to block a mixed-sex marathon this weekend in Lahore.

In a pre-emptive move the Punjab Police on Friday arrested 160 members of various religious parties who staged protests against the event.

Thousands of participants are expected to take part in the event. Organizers say,”women will participate wearing traditional shalwar and kurta and not shorts like Western sportswomen.

Those arrested were from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a six-party alliance which favors Taleban-style fundamentalist laws and which banned male coaches from training female athletes in North West Frontier Province in 2003.

“More than 150 MMA workers and activists including students have been arrested by Lahore police for attacking and injuring policemen,” police spokesman Nayab Haider Naqvi told AFP.

The MMA, which has vowed to disrupt today’s marathon if women take part, disputed the police figures and said more than 1,000 workers had been arrested.

“So far police have arrested more than 1,000 MMA workers from Lahore and different cities of Punjab province,” the MMA’s Lahore chief Amirul Azeem told AFP.

“The government is trying to stop our protest over the mixed marathon race,” he added.

Azeem said that police had stopped the group from holding a “peaceful” protest on Friday against the event and had arrested more than 200 activists from outside a main Lahore mosque.

Police had also surrounded the Lahore headquarters of Pakistan’s largest religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, to restrict the movement of its workers and leaders, he said.

MMA spokesman Liaquat Baloch demanded the immediate release of all their workers and vowed their protest would continue.

“We demand the immediate release of all MMA workers and office bearers. We will continue our protest over the mixed marathon race,” he said.

Meanwhile, the government said it would not bar women from taking part in the race and had deployed extra policemen to beef up security.

“Necessary arrangements have been finalized for the marathon. The government has deputized more than 5,000 policemen to protect participants of the race,” Lahore Mayor Aamir Mehmood told AFP.

“If anyone tried to create any obstruction in the way of the race, he or she will be tried under anti-terrorism law,” he said.

The chief minister of Punjab, Pervez Elahi, said the government would deal with those who stood in the way of the mixed marathon with “iron hand.”

“This race will show to the world the soft image of Pakistan, those who do not like to participate in the marathon race should not join it,” Elahi told AFP.

Riots erupted in the central city of Gujranwala in April last year after police stopped armed activists from disrupting a mini marathon involving women competitors.

Pakistan has recently tried to open up sports to women with the creation of female cricket and hockey teams, although only family members are allowed to watch their matches.

Rubab Raza, 14, was the country’s first female swimmer to dive in an Olympic pool at the 2004 Athens Games.

— With input from agencies