ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — Police overwhelmed anti-government protesters Thursday in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, arresting opposition leaders and preventing several hundred lawyers and activists from leaving for a planned demonstration in Islamabad.
The government of President Asif Ali Zardari contends that public gatherings could serve as a focal point for terrorists and otherwise endanger property and lives.
Authorities also banned public gatherings in two key provinces and blocked major roads into Islamabad, the capital, with barriers and paramilitary vehicles.
"The government has resorted to raiding the houses of the leaders of political parties," said Farooq Tariq, an official with the Labor Party. "I've been underground for the last three days."
Lawyers were at the forefront of demonstrations against the government of then-President Pervez Musharraf, who incurred their wrath in part by firing dozens of senior judges in 2007 in an apparent bid to head off legal challenges to his rule. The attorneys have pressed Zardari to reinstate key judges.
In other news Thursday, a missile believed to have been fired by a U.S. drone aircraft hit a house in northwestern Pakistan that officials said was occupied by militants. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll at seven to 10 people. Their identities were not immediately known. The use of U.S. drones in Pakistan is controversial amid concern about sovereignty and the loss of civilian life.
The Pakistani government's crackdown is aimed at quelling demonstrations in major cities that are being held as part of a several-day "long march" -- actually a long drive -- to Islamabad leading to a planned sit-in Monday.
The growing political instability is raising concern that the armed forces could intervene, as they have repeatedly in this nuclear-armed nation prone to military coups.
"If the politicians can't settle their differences, the military will come back in," said Zulfiqar Ahmed, general manager of the Islamabad Marriott. "They'll try not to, they don't want to, but as a last resort they will."
Political analysts said it remained to be seen whether the government's heavy-handed tactics would prove effective. Some said the moves had succeeded in blunting the public appetite for protest, at least in the short term.
