Gateway Pundit has a report on the arrest of 20,000 members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) who were anticipating the return to the country of PPP leader (and husband of former PM Benazir Bhutto) Asif Ali Zardari:

Police continued cracking down on Pakistan People????????s Party (PPP) activists on Thursday and arrested thousands of them from all over the country while Pakistan Railways (PR) cancelled and barred group reservations in trains bound for Lahore till April 16.

The PPP claimed the government had arrested about 20,000 party leaders and activists countrywide in a bid to stop them from welcoming Asif Ali Zardari, set to land at Lahore Airport tomorrow (Saturday). Also, dozens of PPP activists were injured and at least 100 were arrested during a clash with police at Karachi Cantt Railway Station on Thursday evening.

Zardari is described in a BBC article as a “playboy” who has had a colorful relationship with the government and the courts:

When arrested for the first time following the dismissal of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in August 1990, he told reporters that in the foreseeable future he saw himself either in jail or in the prime minister’s house.

That was exactly how it turned out to be.

Whisked out of jail to be made a member of the federal cabinet in early 1993, he spent just under three years in the PM’s house before being carted back to prison when the PPP’s government was dismissed for the second time in October 1996.

And

When arrested the first time, he was accused of tying a remote-controlled bomb to the leg of a UK-based Pakistani businessman, Murtaza Bukhari, and sending him into a bank to withdraw money from his account as a pay-off.

In 1996, he was arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, but was soon charged with the murder of Murtaza Bhutto, his wife’s brother.

The verdict was set aside after the judge in the case was involved in a corruption scandal. O

On Tuesday, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader admitted in the National Assembly that his party fabricated some of the cases against Zardari:

???????In the past, the confrontation between the PML-N and the PML-N ÄEd- I believe the author meant to write PPPÅ developed so seriously that the leadership (of both sides) cooked up fake cases against each other,??????? said Khawaja Asif, a senior PML-N leader. He said Saifur Rehman, the former chairman of the Ehtesab Bureau, played a key role in preparing fake cases against Zardari.

???????History did not forgive us, and it will not forgive you either,??????? he said, addressing the treasury members. He said the government????????s efforts to block ???????welcome rallies??????? for Zardari were unjustified. Dr Sher Afgan Niazi, the parliamentary affairs minister, said that Zardari had suffered because of the cases prepared against him by the last PML-N government. He asked if the PML-N leadership would apologise to Zardari.

Asif said Zardari was arrested by the caretaker government after the dismissal of Bhutto????????s last government.

There is some confusion as to Zardari’s whereabouts. One story has it that he is being detained at the Islamabad airport while another mentions Lahore as his destination although he had received an invitation to land in Peshawar.

Gateway points to this story that reports of a state of siege in Punjab with the government in panic:

Its law and order machinery, police and intelligence apparatus, is busy doing the 24-hour round and vigil, pulling down posters and removing walk-chalkings that have sprung up in the entire country with slogans welcoming Asif Zardari’s return home on his Journey for Democracy tomorrow, April 16.

I have before me Dubai’s two leading English newspapers that monopolize the English readership of the Emirates. Reports on Pakistan by Khaleej Times (April 12) “Punjab slaps ban on public rallies” and Gulf News (April 13) “Posters welcoming Zardari torn down across Lahore city” have summed up the mounting unease among the rulers who are running berserk on the eve of Zardari’s arrival.

(Reuters Report from Lahore April 13: Police in Pakistan arrested hundreds of activists on Wednesday planning to welcome home the husband of opposition leader in exile Benazir Bhutto. The arrests created the prospect of a showdown between police and Bhutto’s supporters on Saturday, the day military leader President Pervez Musharraf leaves for peace talks in India. “We have detained people but we do not know how many,” said Aftab Cheema, a senior police officer in the eastern city of Lahore. “The operation will continue and we will arrest anyone we think can disrupt the peace.”)

According to Khaleej Times “Diplomatic observers were awaiting Zardari’s return with keen interest hoping he would neutralize the initiative seized by the MMA to attract crowds at its rallies. Many Western diplomats had planned personally to witness the event in Lahore. Punjab Chief Minister Choudhry Parvez Elahi and his cousin and PML Chief Choudhry Shujaat Hussain have felt threatened by President Pervez Musharraf’s efforts to reconcile with PPP. Parvez Elahi also stopped Zardari from flying into Rawalpindi/Islamabad after his release on bail last year and rearrested and returned him to Karachi from the airport.”

Gulf News has reported that district officials in Punjab have ordered tearing down of Zardari welcoming posters and Benazir Bhutto’s pictures. Its story from Lahore quoting a police source said: “A meeting of all the Superintendents of police was held yesterday. Direct orders were given to remove the posters. We expect more to be pasted, and these will also be removed.” Not only that Gulf News witnessed three rickshaws being pulled up by traffic police along Ferozepur Road, and as schoolchildren whom rickshaw drivers were ferrying home waited along the roadside, the drivers were ordered to tear down advertisements pasted behind the vehicles.”

While the police justified its high-handedness stating that the posters were pasted on payment, one rickshaw driver, Shaukat, interviewed by Gulf News denied this allegation and angrily retorted: “We have the posters pasted to our rickshaws because the PPP is the party of the poor like us. I will continue to back Benazir Bhutto and I will go to the airport to receive Zardari regardless of what these police brutes do.”

Ironically, on Monday Bhutto said in an interview that Zardari’s return would be a “test case” for the government:

Ms Bhutto said that the present system had lost its worth and therefore free and fair elections should be held in 2005 instead of 2007. ???????If free and fair elections are not held in 2005, anti-democracy elements will sabotage the democratic system,??????? she said.

She said the ideology of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) were the same while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz????????s (PML-N) policies were clear and it wanted the restoration of the 1973 Constitution. ???????The MMA helped the government and paved the way for the 17th Amendment. The PML-Q banned marathons and restored religious column in the new passport,??????? she added.

Zardari, who was with Ms Bhutto in the interview, said that the MMA had admitted its mistake on the 17th amendment, adding that the religious alliance paved the way for the army chief to become president. ???????Earlier the MMA sat with us and pretended to be an opposition party but later it supported General Pervez Musharraf, paving the way for the 17th Amendment,??????? Zardari said.

Ms Bhutto said it was the government????????s double standards that the MMA was allowed a million-man march while the PPP was not permitted to hold a rally.

Bhutto wanders into hyperbole by comparing her husband to Nelson Mandela. She has had her own problems, of course with her own tortured story of power and imprisonment.

In July 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq imposed Martial Law. During the Martial Law, Benazir was allowed to proceed abroad on medical grounds in January 1984, after spending nearly six and a half years in jail. She went into exile in England for two years.

In July 1984, her younger brother Shah Nawaz died under mysterious circumstances in Paris. She came back to Pakistan to attend his burial ceremony. A year later she came back to Pakistan to fight the elections for National and Provincial Assemblies held by General Zia-ul-Haq. When she returned on April 10, 1986, one million people welcomed her at the Lahore airport. She attended mammoth rallies all over Pakistan and kept in close touch with the Movement for Restoration of Democracy. On December 18, 1987, Benazir married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. She contested the elections, which were held by Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who had taken over as acting President after the death of General Zia in an air crash on August 17, 1988, at Bhawalpur.

Benazir Bhutto approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan, seeking enforcement of the fundamental rights guaranteed to the political parties under Article 17(2) of the 1973 Constitution, to hold the elections on Party basis. The Supreme Court gave its verdict in favor of the political parties. The P. P. P., without forming an alliance with any party, won 94 out of 207 seats in the National Assembly. With the cooperation of eight M. Q. M. members and 13 members of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the P. P. P. was able to get a clear majority in the National Assemblies. Benazir Bhutto was nominated as the Prime Minister on December 2, 1988, and Ghulam Ishaq Khan was nominated the President of Pakistan.

Yesterday, the opposition walked out of the National Assembly in protest of the government’s refusal to allow public rallies for Zardari:

Meanwhile, the ARD and the MMA boycotted the National Assembly proceedings after Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain refused to allow debate on their motions. Chaudhry Nisar of PML-N left the house only when asked by MNA Khwaja Asif. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told the house that public rallies were banned under Section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code and that the government would maintain law and order at all costs.

Raja Pervez Ashraf, PPP-P secretary general, said the police manhandled and arrested party leaders who had come to attend a meeting in Lahore on Wednesday. He said the PPP-P would push forward with its plan to welcome Zardari despite the government????????s warning. PPP-P members moved a motion on the arrest of party leaders in Lahore but Sherpao said that he needed some time to investigate the matter. The speaker directed the minister to submit his report to the house on Monday.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of MMA said opposition members would not attend the meeting of the House Business Advisory Committee unless Wasi Zafar, the law minister, apologised to them for his misbehaviour. The MMA leader also wanted to move a motion against Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi, for what he said making rude remarks about Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The law minister accused MMA leaders of plundering the country????????s wealth and called them terrorists. He, however, refused to apologise.

The speaker said that he was disappointed by the attitude of both the opposition and the government. He observed that the opposition????????s criticism of lack of quorum in the house was unjustified because it was equally responsible for maintaining the quorum. PPP-P member Zamurd Khan pointed out lack of quorum in the house at a time when less than 50 treasury members were present. However, the number increased during the headcount saving the government from another embarrassment.

This report from early April says that Zardari was due to meet with President Pervez Musharraf:

Former Pakistan prime minister has expressed the hope that democracy will be soon restored in her country.

She told media persons on her arrival in Jaipur on Friday that she had had a “fruitful” meeting with President Pervez Musharraf recently.

The India-Pakistan dialogue would be more meaningful if Islamabad was represented by elected leaders, she opined.

“I had a fruitful meeting with President Pervez Musharraf in Jeddah recently over the issue of restoration of democracy in Pakistan and we hope that the process will be speeded up,” Benazir said.

Benazir, who was on her way to Ajmer to offer prayers at the Dargah of Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, said her
husband Asif Ali Zardari would be having another round of talks with Musharraf in Islamabad on April 16 for restoration of democracy.

“I hope that I shall be able to return to my country after return of democracy,” said the Pakistan Peoples’ Party leader, who is now in self-imposed exile.

“On our part we are trying our best to find ways to speed up the democratic process in Pakistan,” she said.

More:

Benazir ruled out launching any agitation against President Musharraf. “Under the present international scenario we are not thinking about launching agitation against Musharraf.” However, a spokesman for the PPP, Senator Farhatullah Babar has issued a statement contradicting the party chairperson????????s earlier confirmation of meeting with President Musharraf in Jeddah.

“A section of the media has claimed that Benazir said in India today that she had a ???????fruitful???????? meeting recently with Gen Musharraf in Jeddah and that Senator Asif Zardari on return to Pakistan would also meet Gen Pervez Musharraf,” he said. “Both the assertions attributed to her are not correct and appear to be based on an incorrect understanding of what she said.”

“The reference to ???????fruitful???????? meeting is about her meeting with former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and not Gen Musharraf. She has not met Musharraf ever since the general dismissed an elected government and re-wrote the Constitution and even since well before that.”

“Benazir also did not say that Asif Zardari will meet Gen Musharraf. All that she said was Asif Zardari would return to Pakistan to boost the democratic struggle in the country.” “At the shrine she also prayed for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. She also addressed a press conference later. She said that during her last visit to the shrine, which took place at the time, when the troops of the two countries were standing eye to eye she had prayed for de-escalation of tension and also for the release of Zardari. She said that both her prayers were answered and hoped that her prayer now for the restoration of the Constitution, democracy and early elections would also be answered.”

In November, Bhutto denied that Musharraf released Zardari as part of a deal between the PPP and the government.

Reports are saying that the goverment and the PPP are heading towards a showdown as Saturday approaches:

LAHORE-The City is heading for a massive showdown on the arrival of Asif Ali Zardari here on Saturday. It seemed that the whole administrative machinery throughout the country is being geared up to stop the PPP from staging a show of power.
Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi is talking tough on Zardari???????? s end, stopping all the pomp and show with which the PPP????????s pumped up workers wanted to receive their leader Asif Zardari.
The Chief Minister rallied all the men that matter around his stand on Zardari before meeting President Musharraf on Wednesday night.
Before meeting President, (also attended by Prime Minister and all the top leaders of Muslim League), the Chief Minister was a bit shaky whether he would be allowed to have his way this time. But on Thursday morning he was more confident, probably due to winning over the man who matters the most President Musharraf.
Sources informed that the meeting with President was also attended by all the bigwigs of four provinces that included Governor, Chief Secretary and Home Secretary from all the provinces with Musharraf personally giving the guidelines to the participants, prodding federal, provincial and district governments and concerned agencies to come into action.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government is closely monitoring all parts of the province. All the DCOs have been instructed to stop wagons, buses and other vehicles carrying PPP workers in their respective jurisdiction. The Punjab government is making it a point not to allow workers to gather in Lahore in the first place. Other provincial governments have given similar instructions to their respective district governments.
There are reports that PPP workers from all over the country would gather in the city to welcome Zardari.
The Punjab government has also imposed section 144, restricting the PPP to take out rallies or processions on Saturday.
However, the PPP leaders are determined to press ahead with their schedule, keeping up their preparation to accord historic welcome to Zardari amid a massive crackdown against them. There is an overwhelming impression both in political and official circles that given the history of PPP workers, a big showdown is expected in the city.
As per strategy of the government, nobody will be allowed to cross the two bridges leading to Lahore Airport, Sherpao and Mian Meer Bridges.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways has cancelled two special trains scheduled to be originated from Larkana and Sukkar, bringing people from these cities to Lahore to welcome Zardari.
There are unconfirmed reports that a large number of group reservations have also been cancelled by Railway from different cities of Sindh province. Meanwhile, Civil aviation Authorities have also been put on high alert.

As with the story from Tajikistan yesterday, this story will bear close watching, not only because of the issues of Pakistan’s government and opposition, but also because this can upset Musharraf’s hold on the government which could have ramifications for the US’s war on terror and the ongoing efforts to crush what’s left of al Qaeda and maybe, possibly, someday capture or kill Osama bin Laden. The Bush Administration must be scrambling to figure out what to do about this, if anything. So far they have been able to walk a slim line with Musharraf, but if he cracks down violently against the opposition, silence from the White House would not go over well.

Posted by Daniel Berczik of Bloggledygook.