ISLAMABAD/LAHORE, 15 November 2007 — Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf continued to be defiant by vowing to stay on in power “till the turmoil in Pakistan is over”, while the country’s cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s defiance came to an end yesterday when police arrested him in Lahore.
Police later said that the Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Imran would be charged under anti-terrorism laws. He was arrested after he emerged from hiding to join a student protest.
Musharraf, meanwhile, vowed not to quit until the country’s political turmoil was over, strongly defending his decision to impose a state of emergency. In an interview with Britain’s Sky News television, he reiterated general elections promised by Jan. 9 would be held under emergency rule. “The day when there is no turmoil in Pakistan, I will step down,” he said. “I am not a dictator, I want a democracy.”
In brief excerpts released by Sky on its website, Musharraf admitted the political situation was not going well and called for unity. “Leave the past behind. The country must work together for the best of Pakistan.”
But the day’s main drama was in Lahore as Imran’s detention came while former Premier Benazir Bhutto worked the phones from under house arrest in an attempt to forge a united opposition front against the state of emergency. Appearing in public for the first time since he slipped out of detention last week, Imran was grabbed by Islamist students when he tried to take part in a rally at a university in Lahore.
He was lifted onto the shoulders of demonstrators but punches flew when he was seized by a crowd of radicals then pushed into a nearby building. He was later bundled into a white van and handed over to police.
“He will be charged under the anti-terrorism act,” Lahore police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal said. “Through his speeches he has been inciting people to pick up arms, he has been calling for civil disobedience, he was spreading hatred,” Iqbal said.
He was being held in custody under a 90-day detention order, and police sources said he was being moved to prison shortly ahead of being formally charged.
“I came to the university to lead a rally of students against the dictator Musharraf and his illegal actions,” Imran earlier told AFP by telephone from police custody as he was whisked away from the campus. “I have achieved my purpose. I have started the student movement.”
Around 150 Benazir’s party activists and students rallied in the capital Islamabad, wearing black armbands, carrying flowers and chanting slogans.
Benazir remained under house arrest in Lahore to prevent her leading a mass procession against emergency rule, after earlier calling on Musharraf to quit and vowing never to serve under him in government. A senior security official in Lahore said Benazir’s house arrest was likely to continue at least until today. The two-time former premier, who heads Pakistan’s biggest opposition group, has spoken to nine other leading political opponents of Musharraf in the past two days, a senior aide in her party said.
— Additional input from agencies.
