Ex-Pakistan Premier Bhutto’s Husband Arrested; She Sees ‘Witch Hunt’

Police Wednesday arrested the husband of ousted Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who denounced the move as a “pure witch hunt” to intimidate her during the current election campaign.

Businessman Asif Ali Zardari was arrested in Karachi for alleged involvement in an extortion case and two cases of illegal bank loans, state television said.

Zardari has been a major target of investigations since Bhutto’s dismissal by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in August for allegedly heading an administration riddled with corruption, nepotism and abuse of power.

He was charged in the kidnaping last April of businessman Murtaza Hussain Bukhari, a Pakistani-born British citizen, and the extortion of $800,000 from him.

“His arrest is pure witch hunt. His arrest is to intimidate and blackmail me,” Bhutto told a hurriedly convened news conference at her fortress-like seaside home. Paramilitary rangers were deployed outside, checking cars.

Thumping on the table with her fists, she said: “Asif has been arrested because of a criminal conspiracy against my family hatched by the caretakers (government). I demand his immediate release.”

Bhutto said she feared for her husband’s life and that she would apply for bail.

She later drove to a police interrogation center and spent 20 minutes with Zardari. Police sources said officials stayed with the couple throughout the visit.

About 100 people outside the center chanted, “Release Zardari!”

Bhutto returned late Tuesday to Karachi, about 600 miles south of Islamabad, after appearing before a special court in the Punjab provincial capital, Lahore. She faces charges there of wrongdoing during her 20 months in office.

Both Bhutto and Zardari, who married Bhutto in 1987, are running in the Oct. 24 National Assembly elections, but she could be barred if convicted. Zardari and Bhutto have two children.