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Husband of Pakistan's ex-PM arrested
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-21 20:41
Pakistani police on Tuesday arrested the husband of
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in the killing of a former judge and his
son in 1996, taking him back into custody just a month after he'd been freed on
bail, lawyers and officials said.
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| Supporters of Bhutto's People's Party chant slogans to protest
against the arrest of Asif Ali Zardari, in Karachi December 21, 2004.
[Reuters] | Asif Ali Zardari was detained at an
airport near the capital Islamabad after arriving on a flight from Karachi to
address a major opposition rally, said Nafees Siddiqi, a lawyer and opposition
member who accompanied him.
About 1,000 opposition supporters clashed with police before Zardari arrived.
On Nov. 22, Zardari had been released from eight years in jail after the
Supreme Court granted him bail involving other cases over alleged corruption
which his supporters claim are politically motivated.
Zardari renewed detention shattered any hopes that his release last month
signaled a reconciliation between Bhutto's party and the government of President
Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
"He was released on court order and now he was been arrested on a court
order," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated Press.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said Zardari was being sent back to
Karachi, and was due to arrive there later Tuesday.
Earlier, a judge of the anti-terrorism court in Karachi, Pir Ali Shah,
ordered Zardari's arrest after canceling his bail, citing his failure to attend
proceedings in the murder trial, said Shahadat Awan, a lawyer for Zardari.
The trial is over the fatal shootings of a former judge and his son in
Karachi eight years ago. Both were shot in a car near their home.
Zardari is accused of plotting the murders.
Before Zardari's arrival in Rawalpindi, about 1,000 opposition activists
tried to enter the airport's VIP lounge, smashing windows. Police fired tear gas
shells and swung batons to control the crowd. Several people were injured in the
violence.
Police arrested about 30 men and 15 women and took them away in trucks.
Several of the women were dragged along the ground.
"This is sheer barbarity. They have insulted women and have added a black
chapter to political history," opposition lawmaker Aitzaz Ahsan told reporters
at the scene. "This police action has exposed the government's claim for
democracy."
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| Asif Ali Zardari, husband of former Pakistani Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto, speaks during an interview with Reuters in this file
photograph taken Nov. 26, 2004. [Reuters] | Syed
Moverat Shah, senior superintendent of Rawalpindi police, confirmed that
opposition activists had been arrested, but did not say how many.
"We have arrested the people because they violated the ban on rallies and
they also damaged government property," Shah told reporters at the airport.
Late Monday, scores of supporters of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party were
arrested in raids in Rawalpindi, said Sen. Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for
the opposition group.
Police did not confirm those arrests, but said up to 20 people were briefly
detained for putting up political posters in Islamabad.
Bhutto was twice elected prime minister but both her governments were
dismissed for allegations of corruption and misrule in the 1990s. She lives in
exile to avoid arrest in corruption cases.
Zardari is accused of making illegal money while his wife was the prime
minister. He was minister for investment in Bhutto's Cabinet.
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