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Pakistan rejects US rebuke over arrests

Pakistan yesterday rejected an unusually harsh rebuke by the US for arresting dozens of activists who oppose the re-election of President Pervez Musharraf.

The US embassy in Islamabad issued a rare statement the previous day branding the detentions as "extremely disturbing and confusing for the friends of Pakistan" and urging the government to free the detained men.

Pakistan's Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azeem however said that the arrested activists were threatening key institutions and had been taken into "protective custody."

"The United States normally understands our internal situation better than others because it a very close ally. I am sure it realizes that democratic society needs the rule of law and not rule by the mob," Azeem said. "No government can allow mobs to attack the Supreme Court building and intimidate judges, especially when the top court is hearing important constitutional petitions. No government can allow mobs to besiege the elections commission during the filing of nomination papers and disturb the democratic process."

Pakistani police rounded up dozens of opposition supporters in Islamabad on Monday after breaking up a protest outside the Supreme Court against Musharraf's bid to be re-elected.

The court is hearing opposition petitions against Musharraf's eligibility to stand in the presidential election on Oct. 6. Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, is seeking another five-year term.

More activists were arrested over the weekend, including Javed Hashmi, the acting chief of exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif's party.

When Sharif was expelled on Sept. 10 after trying to return to Pakistan, US Deputy of State John Negroponte said merely that it was an "internal matter."

But in Monday's statement, the US embassy expressed "serious concern" about the detentions and called for those arrested to be freed as soon as possible.

"The reports of arrests of the leadership of several major Pakistani political parties are extremely disturbing and confusing for the friends of Pakistan," it said.

Security was tight for the second consecutive day near the Supreme Court building, with a ban on gatherings of more than five people and police checkpoints set up on roads leading into the capital. A nine-judge panel was considering several challenges to Musharraf's re-election bid after rejecting some on Monday, mostly on technical grounds. A decision was expected within days.

The opposition parties claim Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 military coup, can't run as long as he retains his dual role as powerful army chief. Musharraf has offered to quit the military post if he wins the Oct. 6 election.

Musharraf has seen his popularity and power erode since his botched effort to fire the Supreme Court's chief justice earlier this year. His administration is also struggling to contain a surge in Islamic militancy.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), part of the opposition alliance, said more than 600 of its members have been arrested, including people taken into custody as they left mosques after morning prayers yesterday.

"Imagine how desperate the administration is," MMA spokesman Ameerul Azim said.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has confirmed 42 arrests. The government has defended them as a pre-emptive action to prevent street protests that could turn violent and a planned blockade by lawyers of the Election Commission on Thursday, when Musharraf plans to file his nomination papers.

Former Prime Benazir Bhutto, who plans to return next month from self-exile and has discussed some kind of power-sharing arrangement with Musharraf, joined the chorus of criticism, along with leading newspapers, who dubbed the crackdown "Operation Zero Tolerance."

Bhutto issued a statement condemning the arrests, saying her Pakistan People's Party wants "change from dictatorship to democracy, from repression to freedom of expression and from intolerance to moderation."
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