Pakistan rejects US criticism of arrests
ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan on Tuesday rejected an unusually harsh rebuke by the United States for arresting dozens of activists who oppose the re-election of President Pervez Musharraf.
The US embassy in Islamabad issued a rare statement the previous day branding the detentions as "extremely disturbing and confusing for the friends of Pakistan" and urging the goverment to free the detained men.
Pakistan's Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azeem however said that the arrested activists were threatening key institutions and had been taken into "protective custody".
"The United States normally understands our internal situation better than others because it a very close ally. I am sure it realises that democratic society needs the rule of law and not rule by the mob," Azeem told AFP.
"No government can allow mobs to attack the Supreme Court building and intimidate judges, especially when the top court is hearing important constitutional petitions," he said.
"No government can allow mobs to besiege the elections commission during the filing of nomination papers and disturb the democratic process."
Pakistani police rounded up dozens of opposition supporters in Islamabad on Monday after breaking up a protest outside the Supreme Court against Musharraf's bid to be re-elected.
The court is hearing opposition petitions against Musharraf's eligibility to stand in the presidential election on October 6. Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, is seeking another five-year term.
More activists were arrested over the weekend, including Javed Hashmi, the acting chief of exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif's party.
When Sharif was expelled on September 10 after trying to return to Pakistan, US Deputy of State John Negroponte said merely that it was an "internal matter".
But in Monday's statement, the US embassy expressed "serious concern" about the detentions and called for those arrested to be freed as soon as possible.
"The reports of arrests of the leadership of several major Pakistani political parties are extremely disturbing and confusing for the friends of Pakistan," it said.
