Pakistan Arrests Bhutto Backers to Stop March

The government arrested dozens of supporters of ousted Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Sunday in an apparent effort to block a planned protest.

Bhutto is preparing a so-called “long march” on Wednesday to demand a change in the country’s leadership. Her supporters across Pakistan are to gather in the adjacent city of Rawalpindi, where she will lead them on the 10-mile walk to the federal capital, Islamabad, for a sit-in outside parliament.

But the conservative Islamic government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, already beset by internal divisions and nervous about the impact of the planned protest, said it won’t let Bhutto and her followers enter the capital. Thousands of police and paramilitary troops have been placed on high alert.