Opp leaders, lawyers arrested
Bureau Report

KARACHI—The spell of raids on the houses of political leaders and lawyers continued today to be conducted here. Police arrested Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) President Abrar Hasan. According to SHCBA General Secretary Muneerur Rehman, Abrar Hasan has been sent to the Central Jail Karachi for 90 days. According to the police sources, Malir Bar Association President Zahoor Mehr was also arrested.
It should also be mentioned that the raids are being conducted to arrest Rasheed Rizwi, Muneer Malik, Salahud Din Gandapur, Yaseen Azad and Naeem Qureshi and other political leaders including Nasurllah Shajee, Mohammed Hussain Mehanti and Younis Barai. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, Khawaja Asif of Pakistan Muslim Legaue (N) and nationalist opposition leaders Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Qadir Magsi have also been arrested, the reports said.
The acting president of Pakistan Muslim League (N) was arrested in Multan. The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, and other legal leaders including Munir A. Malik, Ali Ahmad Kurd and Tariq Mehmood were also taken into custody immediately after emergency rule was imposed.
The police also picked up five lawyers from southwestern Quetta. The acting president of Pakistan Muslim League (N), the party of the exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was arrested on Sunday along with several party activists.
At least 10 activists of Pakistan Muslim League (N) have been arrested the sources said. Meanwhile, the police continue raids on leaders of various political parties in various parts of country including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta and Hyderabad. Awami National Party (ANP) central leader Asfandyar Wali Khan has been put under house arrest at his residence situated at Wali Bagh here on Sunday.
Talking to Geo News, he said the Chief of Army Staff promulgated the martial law not the emergency, as it is only the president who could declare the imposition of emergency under the constitution of 1973. Asfandyar Wali Khan said that the law and order situation emerged in the tribal areas in Musharraf’s era.
Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader Sahibzadah Dr Abul Khair Mohammed Zubair demanded the restoration of 1973 constitution and said that the people of Pakistan would not accept the emergency at any cost. According to a statement issued from here, Dr Zubair said the government opted for the emergency to escape the holding the general elections.
He said that the people have been kept devoid of the fundamental right for last eight years, which has now been vindicated by promulgating the emergency. Sahibzadah Dr Abul Khair Mohammed Zubair said the government should confess failure; it is laying blame on the judiciary, instead.
Police rounded up hundreds of opposition leaders and rights activists Sunday after Pakistan’s military ruler suspended the constitution, ousted the top judge and deployed troops to fight what he called rising Islamic extremism.
Increasingly concerned by the unfolding crisis, the Bush administration said Sunday that American aid to Pakistan would be reviewed. The U.S. has provided about $11 billion to Pakistan since 2001, when Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, allied with the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks.