Police Arrest Bhutto, Kill Four Protesters in Pakistan

Police arrested opposition leader Benazir Bhutto today after she called for a return to democracy and led an Independence Day march in Karachi that was tear-gassed by riot squads. In Lahore, police opened fire on anti-government protesters, killing at least four people.

Opposition parties had vowed to go ahead with planned protests in Lahore and Karachi despite a government ban on public meetings issued Wednesday.

Bhutto was arrested at her Karachi home and taken to jail as her supporters watched. Her followers said they will launch nationwide protests to secure her release. Police said she will be held for 30 days.

In Lahore, police armed with machine guns and rifles opened fire on crowds attacking a police station and burning vehicles. Police reinforcements in armored cars moved in and fired on the crowd.

Police repeatedly tear-gassed the demonstrators, who set fire to vehicles, blocked roads with burning debris, hurled rocks and bricks at police and attacked shops.

Screaming, “Death to Zia!” and “Zia is a dog!” the crowds fought with police in both cities. Protesters in some places also yelled “Death to the Americans!” because of Washington’s support for the government of President Gen. Zia ul-Haq.

The bodies of four demonstrators who had been shot to death were brought to hospitals. Doctors said at least 35 other demonstrators were wounded.

Bhutto’s arrest came after she tried to lead about 7,000 supporters in an anti-government march from her Karachi home. The marchers were turned back after about 1,000 yards by police who fired warning shots and pelted them with tear gas.

Addresses 10,000

The 33-year-old Bhutto, whose father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was deposed by Zia in 1977 and executed two years later, left her home a second time and managed to reach an opposition meeting where she addressed about 10,000 people as police fought with activists.

Two people at the rally died when the roof of a building they were standing on collapsed.

Bhutto, who is fighting to restore democracy to this predominantly Muslim nation of 88 million, denounced the Zia government and said the opposition will not rest until the regime is ousted.

“Our struggle to bring democracy back to this country will go on until Gen. . . . Zia ul-Haq’s government comes to an end,” she told the cheering crowd.

“In spite of all repression, arrests and detentions by this so-called democratic government, the caravan of democracy will go forward,” she said. “Nobody can stop it.”

Several top opposition leaders were arrested as they tried to reach protest meetings to make speeches, including Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, head of Bhutto’s Pakistan National Party.

Prime Minister Mohammed Khan Junejo appealed to the nation for support today during a flag-raising ceremony outside Parliament in the capital, Islamabad.

Zia, who seized power from Bhutto’s father in a 1977 coup, is on a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and is not scheduled to return until next week.