ISLAMABAD — Pakistan rounded up hundreds of opposition activists Wednesday and banned protests in two provinces hoping to thwart an anti-government march on the capital, saying it would not allow “the law of the jungle” to cause instability.
The crackdown threatened to undermine support for the year-old elected government, which the U.S. is counting on to battle Taliban and al-Qaeda militants operating in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
The growing political unrest also raised the specter of a possible military intervention in a nuclear-armed nation prone to army coups. It could put Washington in a prickly position if the civilian government — which itself rose to power on the back of rallies and marches against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf — keeps clamping down on dissidents.
As television channels beamed footage of police dragging activists into vans the day before the march was to begin, opposition party leaders and lawyers spearheading demonstrations vowed to press ahead.
“I cannot rest when Pakistan is being taken toward disastrous circumstances,” opposition leader Nawaz Sharif told a crowd in Abbotabad in the North West Frontier province. “We cannot compromise when all institutions are ruined and the system is on the verge of collapse.”
Pakistan’s lawyers are demanding that President Asif Ali Zardari fulfill a pledge to restore judges removed by Musharraf, who moved against many of the same activists in 2007.
Sharif, a former prime minister who briefly allied with Zardari during the campaign to force out Musharraf, supports the judges’ restoration but also is furious over a Supreme Court decision barring him and his brother from elected office. After the ruling, the federal government dismissed the Punjab provincial administration led by Sharif’s brother. Sharif claims the ruling was politically motivated and has urged Pakistanis to join the protest march.
Zardari, the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has cultivated ties with the U.S. and sought to rally Pakistanis behind the fight with Islamic extremists. Sharif is considered closer to Islamic parties and conservative factions less inclined to support the U.S. war effort.
Activists have promised to gather in cities around the country today and then set out for the capital, Islamabad, where they plan a sit-in at the parliament building.
