Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party on Tuesday started its 'long march' against the emergency rule imposed by President Pervez Musharraf. However, the former prime minister could not participate in the convoy of over 100 vehicles traveling towards Islamabad, as she had been placed under house arrest.
Shah Mahmoud Qureshi, the president of the Punjab unit of the PPP, led the march with 110 vehicles and thousands of followers, party spokesperson Sherry Rehman said.
Qureshi had met Bhutto earlier today morning. Rehman, who was with Bhutto in the home of PPP Senator Latif Khosa that has been surrounded by hundreds of policemen, said: "They are walking towards Kasur and have reached Mustafabad while tyres burn all over Lahore in protest of Mohtarma Bhutto's detention and the mass arrests of PPP workers across Punjab."
"Women parliamentarians are being picked up and inhumanly treated while the massive police presence outside Khosa's house is growing to unprecedented numbers," she alleged
Qureshi said the PPP had decided last night that other leaders would go ahead with the march if Bhutto was detained. "If I am arrested, some other leader should take up the baton of democracy and take it forward," he told a TV channel.
Bhutto was placed under house arrest for seven days after Monday midnight to prevent her from taking part in the rally.