Imran Khan, opposition figures arrested in Pak

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani cricket legend Imran Khan, senior lawyers and key opposition figures were among at least a dozen people arrested overnight under a state of emergency, police said on Sunday.   

Their arrests came as President Pervez Musharraf suspended the constitution citing what he said were threats posed to the nuclear-armed nation by Islamic extremism and judicial interference.   

Khan, who captained Pakistan to cricket World Cup success in 1992 and then turned to politics, said he was placed under house arrest.

"Police entered my house in Lahore and told me that I am placed under house arrest, they did not show me any detention order at all," Khan said.   

He had earlier accused Musharraf of committing high treason for declaring a state of emergency, saying he was "punishable by death."

Khan, who heads his Movement for Justice Party, is at the forefront of an opposition campaign to dislodge Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup.   

"Musharraf has been portraying himself as a benevolent dictator but now as he is pushed into a corner he is showing his true colours," Khan said.   

"He is a power-grabber and wants to cling to power at all costs."   

Khawaja Asif, the firebrand central leader of exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League, was also placed under house arrest.   

Nationalist opposition leaders Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Qadir Magsi were detained in their home towns in southern Pakistan, police said.

The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, and other legal leaders including Munir A. Malik, Ali Ahmad Kurd and Tariq Mehmood were also taken into custody immediately after emergency rule wsa imposed.   

The four lawyers were counsels for ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry when Musharraf first tried to sack him in March.

The outspoken Chaudhry, who has been a thorn in the military ruler's side and has issued several rulings against Musharraf's government, was sacked but not arrested.   

The police also picked up five lawyers from southwestern Quetta, who were known as staunch supporters of Chaudhry.   

Hundreds of police and paramilitary rangers deployed late Saturday around the Supreme Court to prevent protests by lawyers and opposition parties.   

However, the regular army was not called in and private transport was able to move freely Sunday except for along Constitution Avenue, which houses key buildings including Supreme Court, the presidency and parliament.   

Police erected barricades and barbed wire to seal off the high-security zone and blocked movement towards judges' residences.   

Local markets remained open and hummed with activity with no panic buying.