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Shah Mehmood and Abida among hundreds arrested

* Riots in Karachi
* PPP to take legal action against elements defaming BB

FAISALABAD/KARACHI: Hundreds of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) activists, including Punjab President Shah Mehmood Qureshi and former member of the National Assembly (MNA) Syeda Abida Hussain, were arrested on Wednesday.

Shah Mehmood was arrested when he reached Faisalabad from Okara with the PPP’s long-march rally, Online reported. Abida Hussain was arrested in the evening from her residence after she had led a demonstration in Jhang. Also, riots in Karachi continued on the second day of PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto’s house arrest.

Police and rangers raided the rally when it reached at the residence of Member of the Punjab Assembly (MPA) Raja Riaz. PPP leaders Syed Moazam, Khawaja Rizwan Alam and dozens others were also arrested.

Abida told Daily Times via phone that she and two other PPP leaders Dr Abual Hassan and Syed Shabbar Raza, led a rally to protest against the proclamation of emergency and the arrest of PPP workers all over Pakistan. PPP Punjab Information Deputy Secretary Iqbal Sialwi condemned the arrests, saying the government was suffering from “Benazir phobia”, and it didn’t have the courage to tolerate opposition parties.

Riots: Riots continued in various areas of Karachi on the second day of Benazir Bhutto’s house arrest. The violence escalated in the PPP-dominated area of Lyari. Armed men continued firing at police mobiles in various areas of the city on Wednesday.

Youth in Lyari blocked roads, burnt tyres and hurled rocks at passing cars. “They opened fire on police mobiles in the area,” Lyari Town Police Officer Fayyaz Khan said.

Khan said it was possible that a Lyari gang leader, Rehman Dakait, was behind the shootings in Lyari, adding that “maybe he’s even leading the PPP protestors in the area”.

PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto, in a telephonic address to PPP representatives in Sahiwal and Chichawatni, claimed that over 7,500 PPP workers from Punjab and over 5,000 workers from Sindh had been arrested since the imposition of emergency, Online reported. She said, “The PPP believes in true democracy, but Gen Musharraf is trying to create hurdles in it and this will not be allowed.”

Legal action: PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that the PPP was going to take legal action against people involved in a smear campaign against Benazir Bhutto. staff report

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