Benazir arrested.../ detention order taken back

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Is the deal still on?

ISLAMABAD: Former premier and PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto has been put under house arrest Friday, hours before she was due to lead a rally against a state of emergency, government officials said.

“She is being placed under house arrest,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

Nearly 200 police sealed off Bhutto’s house in Islamabad with barbed wire and a magistrate went inside, apparently with the arrest order, hours before she was due to lead the demonstration in neighbouring Rawalpindi.

A senior leader of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, senator Anwar Baig, said outside her house: “This is illegal confinement. This is illegal detention of a democratic leader.”

“We tried to convince Benazir Bhutto to cancel the rally but she did not agree, and we had no choice but to implement these restrictions,” a senior police official said.

The government also deployed 6,000 police officers to stop the protest in Rawalpindi, completely cordoning off the planned venue in the garrison city with barbed wire and concrete blocks.

“Under no circumstances will the rally be allowed. The law will take its course against anyone who defies it,” Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz said.

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Re: Benazir arrested...

As much as I like to see this criminal under arrest, this tells me one thing: Mush is totally ticked off.

Something isn't right. He's totally tearing apart all US engineered deals.

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Re: Benazir arrested...

Well, like it or not, BB has power that even Mushrraf doesn't have. She can bring out million people on streets any day. That's Mushrrafs biggest fear. If there are mass protests Mushrrafs chances of survival will be much less.

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Re: Benazir arrested...

Oh, at this point, I think Mush doesn't need to worry about increasing his opposition. Its at the extreme now. Even ardent supporters like myself are watching Mush erupt like a bomb with much apprehension.

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Re: Benazir arrested...

About time.

with the news of 3 suicide bombers being dispatched to her planned rally in pindi/islamabad, who knows many innocent lives may have been saved already with her being under house arrest.

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Re: Benazir arrested…

:jhanda: now mushy is in my good book…:k:

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Re: Benazir arrested...

i agree.
however, i am beginning to wonder when he is going to stop arresting lawyers, reporters, students, human rights activists and address the problem in the north?

Dholki :) A Challenge between....
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Re: Benazir arrested...

^I think the damage's done already. Even if they're released now, they have the right to put up a good protest and with international support. He kinda repeated his mistake of putting the popular man out of power back in March, now this time the popular item is Media. Yet another blow to his schematic rule. As for what he did to BB, i think it was as a safeguard and a good decision to save precious lives.

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Re: Benazir arrested…

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\11\09\story_9-11-2007_pg1_8

West urging army generals to ask Musharraf to end emergency: NYT

  • Several generals believe it’s time for army to leave politics

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Military attachés from the US and several other Western nations have been discreetly contacting senior Pakistani generals and asking them to press General Musharraf to back down from the emergency decree he issued on Saturday, according to Western diplomats, reported the New York Times on Thursday.

On Wednesday, when President Bush telephoned General Musharraf, the general reassured the US leader that his power grab was temporary, Pakistani and American officials said.

For the time being, Bush administration officials are unanimous in saying that American financial support for Pakistan will continue regardless of whether General Musharraf reverses course. But American support for General Musharraf is not limitless, several administration officials said privately, the report added.

Rumblings of discontent with General Musharraf also exist in the Pakistani armed forces, but they are far from reaching the point where the army’s senior generals would turn against him, according to Western officials and Pakistani analysts.

Even as the pressure on General Musharraf builds, one Bush administration official said the White House was concerned about any appearance that the US was interfering in Pakistan’s politics. The perception among Pakistani analysts is that Washington is guiding Bhutto. “She’s listening to the Americans, no one else,” said Najam Sethi, the editor in chief of The Daily Times. An American official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the US was not instructing Bhutto on how to proceed and had been unaware of her plans to protest the emergency until she announced them publicly.

No more politics: “There are a number of generals who feel that the time has come for the army to get out of politics,” said a Western diplomat. “Most importantly, that the army has become unpopular and the image of the army is suffering in Pakistan, largely due to the insurgency, but also that they are associated with the president.”

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Re: Benazir arrested...

haha, but this report doesnt mention which Lt. Generals believe that army needs to leave politics ;)

Sorry, there will be no mutiny within the army.

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Re: Benazir arrested...

Agree. Mushrraf is good and as gone. He will never recovered from this.

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Re: Benazir arrested...

There may not be mutiny in the army, but ironically every retired general who makes it to tv studio says army should not be in politics.

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Re: Benazir arrested...

I hope she gets raped in prison, by junglis & changars.

Timepaas
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Re: Benazir arrested...

sorry Pal that won't be happening.

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Re: Benazir arrested…

BB tried to leave her house thru backdoor and managed to get a few yards away before being stopped by the police :khumar:

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Re: Benazir arrested…

Lady Tullaz being called to arrest her from her car now :rotfl:

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Re: Benazir arrested...

PEOPLE! She's out and about....she's refusing to accept the order, is arguing with the cops as of right this min. She's addressed them thru megaphone saying 'our fight is not with you', the driver cannot reverse the Land cruiser, they're still trying to stop her but her caravan is proceeding. The policeman is unable to get close to her vehicle to serve the order and convince her to go back.
The police have started to surround her vehicle and ladies officers have been sent forth, looks as if she'll be forced out of her S.U.V. and sent back inside the house.

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Re: Benazir arrested...

bezamir should stay home like an aachi se buddhi....:D :p

Kamran Akmal's keeping - Chronicles of his disastrous glove work
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Re: Benazir arrested...

lol the lady knows all the police tactics...afterall she was the PM at one time. She probably knows what buttons to press and how...

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Re: Benazir arrested...

PPP people are protesting & fighting with police. Number of people have been arrested including number of PPP MPs.