Pakistani fundamentalist party leader Fazlur Rahman was put under house arrest Sunday amid signs the military government is cracking down on Islamic extremists opposed to US strikes against Afghanistan.
Police and paramilitary forces surrounded the radical Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party leader's home in Dera Ismail Khan, North West Frontier Province (NWFP), hours before he was scheduled to lead an anti-US rally in central Pakistan.
"Fazlur Rahman has been put under house arrest for an indefinite period. We don't know what the charges are but we will go ahead with our rallies against America," spokesman Hafiz Riaz Durrani told AFP.
"Police and paramilitary soldiers have been posted outside his home and he is not allowed to come out of the house."
Rahman, a "maulana" or Islamic cleric who is a staunch backer of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia, has strong support among Pakistan's extremist right but little mainstream credibility.
The Taliban is facing imminent US strikes for its refusal to hand over Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, the man blamed for the September 11 atrocities in New York and Washington.
Pakistan has offered its "unstinting support" to US-led efforts to hunt down bin Laden and his associates in Afghanistan, despite the prospect of unrest by radical Islamist groups here.
Rahman has called on his followers to seize airports and wage jihad, or holy war, if US forces are allowed to operate from bases inside Pakistan.
He has led several emotional rallies around the country since September 11, where his followers have burned US flags and effigies of President George W. Bush.
On Sunday, around 6,000 JUI followers marched through the central Punjab city of Multan, chanting slogans such as "Long live the Taliban" and "Death to America".
Local party leaders made speeches dismissing US evidence against bin Laden as "propaganda".
Police said they had been ordered to stop Rahman from leading the rally in Multan.
"We received orders from the provincial home ministry that Fazlur Rahman should not be allowed to proceed to Multan. We have simply implemented the orders," deputy inspector general of Dera Ismail Khan police Abid Saeed said.
"We have placed him under house arrest till further instructions. This was aimed at avoiding public disorder."
In Peshawar, the capital of NWFP, up to 500 JUI supporters staged a demonstration outside a mosque to press for Rahman's release. They chanted slogans against President Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Rahman's arrest followed reports that Pakistani authorities have arrested Sheikh Fazlur Rehman Khalil, an ally of bin Laden and leader of the Harakat ul-Mujahedin, a Kashmiri militant outfit which is on a US terrorist blacklist.
A Muslim rights activist told AFP in Cairo Saturday that Khalil, who co-signed a fatwa, or religious decree, against US citizens in February 1998 with bin Laden, was arrested three days ago.
Pakistani police have not confirmed the report, although the government has frozen Harakat's bank accounts in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
Last week Pakistani provincial authorities also sought the expulsion of some 50 staff of seven Arab non-governmental organizations, amid suspicions the NGOs could be fronts for bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
In siding with the international coalition against terrorism, Pakistan has been forced into a dramatic reversal of its previous friendship with the Taliban.
It is the only country that recognizes the Taliban regime, but has already started to cooperate with efforts to find an alternative, broad-based government to replace the militia.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, after talks with Musharraf on Friday, said the two leaders had agreed that, should the Taliban fall, its successor must be "broad-based" and include every key ethnic group, including Afghanistan's dominant Pashtun community.
Pakistan has a large Pashtun community and its foreign policy towards Afghanistan has always been dictated by support for the ethnic group.
In the western city of Quetta, about 3,000 demonstrators marched through the streets to demand the convening of a Loya Jirga, or traditional council of elders, to establish peace in Afghanistan.
A Loya Jirga, according to Afghan tradition, is a special meeting of all Afghan religious, tribal and ethnic factions called in times of turmoil to unite the country's fractious clans and ethnic groups -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
