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Police barricade Sharif's home |
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July 9, 2000
LAHORE (AP) - Police, who were trying to stop an anti-government march on Saturday, arrested the wife of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif and march leader after a brief car chase through the congested streets of this eastern Punjab city, witnesses and police said. Sharif's wife, Kulsoom, managed to get into a car despite the heavy contingent of police guarding her house. She and three companions stole away from the house in a posh Lahore neighborhood and headed toward the city center. Police chased her car and finally intercepted it, arresting her and her companions. Mrs. Sharif refused to leave her vehicle. Police towed her vehicle with her inside. Contacted on her mobile telephone Mrs. Sharif said "the champions of democracy and human rights have exposed their real faces by arresting an innocent woman. But they cannot stop us from our struggle for the restoration of democracy." It wasn't clear whether police would hold Mrs. Sharif in jail, charge her or release her. Mrs. Sharif's daughter Mariam was worried.
"I don't know what to think. We can't leave our house and I am worried abut my mother," she said. "But no matter what the government does to us we will not run. We will fight until the end." Mrs. Sharif had vowed to lead an anti-government rally from Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province to Peshawar, 500 kilometers (300 miles) to the northwestern city of Peshawar. There is a ban on public protests in Pakistan. The march was to be a show of protest against the army government that threw out her husband's government last October. Earlier Saturday, police erected barricades and deployed scores of officers in riot gear to confine her in her home. Vehicles were being detoured by police and at least 25 people, who managed to breach the police barricades, were eventually arrested outside the Sharif home. The march was to be a show of protest against the army government that threw out her husband's government last October. Sharif is in jail serving two concurrent life terms on charges of terrorism and kidnapping. He also faces several charges of corruption. The military government banned marches and protest rallies several months ago saying the first order of business was to get Pakistan's failed economy working and the endemic corruption rooted out before opening the door to public demonstrations that could destabilize the country. Army ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf has promised to restore democracy to this poor nation of 140 million people within three years in keeping with a Supreme Court ruling. On Friday police conducted raids throughout the country arresting as many as 260 of Sharif's supporters to prevent the march. Barricades have been erected outside the Sharif residence where scores of police have been deployed. Some of Sharif's supporters said there were more raids conducted throughout the night Saturday. "All night long police raided homes of our supporters and are now barring workers from assembling at Nawaz Sharif's home," said Tehmina Daultana, a party worker and former Parliamentarian. However it's not clear how much support Sharif's wife has for the demonstration from among her husband's party. Many of the senior party workers earlier refused to participate. Sharif's wife, who was rarely seen in public when her husband was in power, is now spearheading the anti-government campaign. But deep divisions have emerged within the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League party with some leaders expressing resentment over her leadership. |
