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LAHORE, Pakistan, July 8 (AFP) - Ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, was arrested Saturday amid a major military crackdown on the former ruling party. Kulsoom was detained after she drove through a massive police cordon around her home, where she had been held under virtual house arrest since late Friday, police and witnesses said. Police said she dashed through roadblocks accompanied by members of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML), but was arrested some six kilometers (four miles) away after a bizarre chase through the streets of Lahore. Driven by her chauffeur, she was accompanied by two PML leaders, Javed Hashmi and Tehmina Daultana, witnesses said. Several dozen police vehicles surrounded her car in a wealthy suburb of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, before it was towed to a government rest house, where officials said she had been detained. But an AFP correspondent said Kulsoom had locked the doors and was refusing to get out of the car. "They will have to drag me out of this car -- I'm not going to get out," she shouted to reporters through the windows. Reporters at the scene said mechanics had tried to open the doors but failed and police were now playing a waiting game. An ambulance was on the scene after concerns were raised about the extreme heat inside the vehicle. Kulsoom, a housewife turned outspoken opponent of the military government, had planned to lead a cross-country procession Saturday to raise money for drought victims but authorities accused her of plotting an illegal political rally. On Friday the military regime launched its biggest crackdown on political opposition since the October coup when scores of PML supporters were arrested in pre-dawn raids as they prepared to join a procession. Sharif, who still leads the PML from his jail cell where he is serving a life sentence for hijacking and corruption, expressed outrage at his wife's predicament. "A new wave of terror has been unleashed against our family members. The family residence has been besieged by police," he said after leaving a court in Attock, near Islamabad, where he is on trial for corruption. Other PML leaders said the military regime under General Pervez Musharraf had panicked at the prospect of Kulsoom parading through the PML heartland of central Punjab. "This action is unconstitutional, immoral and unethical," said Raja Zafarul Haq, a PML leader. "The way she was arrested is the darkest chapter in our political history. She should have been allowed to lead the peaceful procession which was for the good cause of collecting donations for drought victims." Former PML parliamentarian Ejaz Shafi said: "Panic in official circles over her rally shows that the authorities are scared of Sharif's popularity. Her arrest reflects the fascist tendencies of the regime." No official comment was immediately available about Kulsoom's arrest but earlier Saturday Information Minister Javed Jabbar defended the crackdown on PML members and described it as "temporary." "These are temporary measures to ensure that no one should break the law," he told AFP, stressing that Pakistan was passing through a critical phase and could not afford politics of confrontation. "She has announced plans to defy the ban (on rallies) and it is the government's responsibility to enforce the law." Other party leaders and observers have expressed shock and accused the military regime of using strong-arm tactics against peaceful citizens. "One can only hope that the government would avoid resorting to the sort of harsh methods employed earlier to deal with the protesting traders," said an editorial in the Nation daily, referring to recent street battles between police and merchants angry at a tax collection drive. "The caravan being led by (Kulsoom) is not going to pose any serious threat to the government ... the government machinery must also avoid any over-reaction on its part," the paper said. |
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