KARACHI, Pakistan: More than 3,000 people marched through the streets of Karachi as protests continued against a government crackdown on ‘opposition parties in Pakistan, police said,
Opposition sources said demonstrations were also held in several other towns as President Mohammad Zia ul Haq left for Harare to attend the nonaligned summit opening there.
Hundreds of opponents of the government, including opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, have been detained since the crackdown two ‘weeks ago, several opposition supporters have also been killed in clashes with security forces.
“Release Benazir” and “Down with Zia”, chanted protesters at the Karachi demonstration, witnesses said.
Two members of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the main ‘opposition party, were meanwhile arrested by police today in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, for violating a ban on political demonstrations.
Government officials said the authorities had withdrawn troops from riot hit areas of the southern province of Sind.
Troops were sent into Sind, Bhutto’s home province, to put down violent protests in the wake of the crackdown, the biggest since Zia ended eight and a half years of martial law in December.
Article extracted from this publication >>September 5, 1986
