Bhutto Arrested, Riots Erupt in Pakistan

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was arrested Thursday after denouncing the government at a rally in Karachi on independence day. Protests spread through the nation and police killed at least four people in Lahore.

Other opposition leaders issued a statement from hiding that demanded Bhutto’s immediate release. They accused President Zia ul-Haq of starting a “bloodbath” and pledged a nationwide effort to overthrow him.

Zia is on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is scheduled to return next week to this Muslim country.

Hundreds of riot police in body armor fought running street battles with rock-throwing crowds in Lahore and the southern port of Karachi. Police squads broke up protest meetings in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and other cities.

Hospital officials in Lahore said four people were shot to death and 35 were admitted with gunshot wounds or other injuries. The four people were reported killed when protesters tried to storm a police station. Opposition figures said at least 11 people were killed, but police would not comment on casualties.

Crowds swept through Lahore’s inner city, shouting “Death to Zia!” “Zia is a dog!” and--because of Washington’s support for the government--”Death to the American dogs!”

Mobs set vehicles and shops ablaze, pulled down advertising signs and street barricades and pelted police with rocks and bricks. Riot squads fired tear gas at close range and arrested hundreds of people.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said: “We welcomed the restoration of democratic, constitutional government in Pakistan. We regret the numerous arrests, including that of Benazir Bhutto and limitations placed on freedom of movement, which run counter to this.”

Gen. Zia appointed a civilian government late last year and lifted martial law. Zia is both president and army commander.

Father Was Overthrown

Bhutto, whose father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was overthrown by Zia in 1977 and executed in 1979 on charges of conspiring to murder a political opponent, tried to lead a crowd of about 7,000 supporters on a march from her home in Karachi. Riot police moved in and a battle began.

Police fired tear gas, and two canisters hit the car carrying the 33-year-old opposition leader. They fired warning shots into the air and the march collapsed after about 1,000 yards.

Later, Bhutto left the house again and managed to address a rally of about 10,000 people.

The government had banned all political meetings Thursday, the anniversary of independence from Britain in 1947, and had arrested more than 500 opposition leaders the day before.

In exhorting the cheering Karachi crowd, Bhutto said, “Our struggle to bring democracy back to this country will go on until Gen. Mohammed Zia ul-Haq’s government comes to an end.”

His government has failed to suppress the opposition and is on the run, she declared. “In spite of all repression, arrests and detentions by this so-called democratic government, the caravan of democracy will go forward. Nobody can stop it,” she told the crowd.

‘Zia Go! Go! Go!’

The leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, which her father founded, concluded her brief address by leading her followers in chants of “Zia go! Go! Go!”

Police skirmished with groups of people around the meeting ground and fired volley after volley of tear gas. Two people were killed when a roof crowded with spectators gave way.

Senior police officers arrested Bhutto when she returned home and took her to a Karachi jail. They said she would be held for 30 days to preserve public order.