Pakistan Places Key Opposition Leader Bhutto Under House Arrest

The military government placed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest on Thursday and barred her from all political activities, just days after her return from self-imposed exile.

The 90-day detention order came after Bhutto, 31, leader of the outlawed Pakistan People’s Party, refused to accept an order barring her from traveling to Malir and Lyari, outside Karachi, to visit the families of two political activists.

Sixteen police guards, armed with rifles and tear-gas guns, barred entry to Bhutto’s house after the government issued the detention order. Policemen and security agents in dozens of trucks cordoned off the neighborhood.

Bhutto is the daughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was ousted in a 1977 military coup led by Gen. Zia ul-Haq, who currently is president. The elder Bhutto was convicted of conspiring to kill a political opponent and executed in 1979.

Most Prominent Foe

Benazir Bhutto is regarded as Zia’s most prominent opponent.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the Reagan Administration views Bhutto’s house arrest “with dismay.”

Pakistani officials said the terms of the house arrest order allow her to see only domestic servants.

Benazir Bhutto had spent most of the last 18 months of self-imposed exile in London after being released from several years of house arrest and jail in Karachi.

She returned to Pakistan last week with the body of her 26-year-old brother, Shahnawaz Bhutto, a leader of Al Zulfikar (The Sword), a terrorist group formed to avenge the execution of his father. Shahnawaz Bhutto was found dead last month under mysterious circumstances in his apartment in Cannes, France. Bhutto family members contend that Shahnawaz Bhutto was poisoned.

Benazir Bhutto predicted upon returning that the military government might not allow her to remain free. But she said she was more determined than ever to continue her opposition to Zia’s government, whatever the consequences.

“There have been far too many sacrifices (to stop),” she said.