Pakistani police detain former premier, protest leaders (1st Lead)

Islamabad - Pakistani police on Sunday placed several opposition leaders, including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, under house arrest to prevent them from joining a protest march on the capital Islamabad for an independent judiciary. Police used batons and tear-gas to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in Lahore, the central town of Punjab province where Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party is dominant. Sharif, the country's most popular opposition leader and two-time former prime minister, was placed under house arrest in the city. Sharif publicly supported a campaign spearheaded by defiant lawyers seeking reinstatement of judges, including former Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who had been removed by ex-president Pervez Musharraf. The demonstrators were trying to hold a so-called long march to Islamabad for a sit-in scheduled beginning Monday. PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said Sharif was confined to his home for three days along with his nephew, also a member of parliament, and dozens of supporters. 'Hundreds of policemen have surrounded the residence. It is very unfortunate, undemocratic. But this will not defeat our determination,' Iqbal told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by phone. Police also arrested a leader of the lawyers' group, Aitzaz Ahsan, for violating a government ban on protests and public gatherings. Ahsan called his detention illegal, and said the arrests would not deter the protesters from marching to Islamabad. More than 1,000 activists were already in police custody in an attempt to ward off the Islamabad rally. Principal roads in nearly all main towns along the planned route were blocked using cargo containers, lorries and concrete barriers. 'For how long can Islamabad be sealed? The day the siege is lifted, millions of people would come out on the Constitution Avenue,' Ahsan said, referring to the boulevard where the sit-in was to be staged against the government of President Asif Ali Zardari. Defying arrest threats, thousands of Sharif's supporters and lawyers gathered in Lahore for the protest demonstrations. They chanted slogans like 'Death to Zardari,' 'Zardari is a dog' and 'Restore the judges.' The political turmoil has raised concerns in Washington and other Western capitals which want Zardari and Sharif to end their feud and join efforts against Islamic extremism. The house arrest of Sharif came one day after Zardari's government announced some concessions for the opposition leader. A presidential spokesman said late Friday the government would appeal a controversial court ruling that barred Sharif from elected office, and pledged to resolve the issue of reinstatement of judges sacked by Musharraf. But the opposition groups said only concrete actions would satisfy them, not merely announcements of good intentions.