Pakistan police Thursday arrested hundreds of more lawyers and political leaders and activists in the continuing crackdown to block their participation in the protest Long March, meant to press the restoration of the deposed judges. However, as planned the lawyers long march started from Quetta peacefully, and from Karachi with several detentions. All the caravans coming from several cities and towns will converge in Islamabad on March 16. Thousands of lawyers, opposition supporters and civil activists will join the four-day convoy on the 1,500 kilometers from Karachi-Quetta to Islamabad. “We have instructions not to allow any political activists to cross the barrier,” police official Anwar Ahmed said. Security forces sealed off the Karachi highway with trucks and containers, while policemen and women fanned out in a bid to prevent the convoy proceeding. The start of the long march from Karachi was noisy as police blocked the lawyers from gathering at the Sindh High Court (SHC) premises. Police barricaded the routes leading to the SHC. However, lawyers breaking all hurdles reached the venue. Police baton-charged activists and lawyers. Police arrested Jamaat-e-Islami leaders including Prof Ghafoor Ahmed and Asadullah Bhutto, and President of the Karachi Bar Muhammad Ali Abbasi and dozens of political workers and lawyers. US Ambassador Anne Patterson met Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif Thursday in a bid “to get things resolved” between him and the government, Sharif spokesman Sadiqul Farooq said. “It is not only the American ambassador, other friendly countries are in contact,” he said. Senior policeman urges colleagues to defy orders A senior Pakistani policeman, who refused to detain lawyers and political activists, urged colleagues to defy orders in a government clampdown. “I cannot arrest anybody. These orders for arresting people are illegal. Police are not a toy for politicians to use against each other,” Superintendent Athar Waheed told reporters in the Punjab city of Gujranwala. “I hope my colleagues will not obey any illegal order and strictly adhere to the law and the constitution,” said Waheed. The officer is the second most senior policeman in the industrial city of Gujranwala.
