Pakistan's legendary cricketer and opposition leader Imran Khan was on Wednesday detained by radical students at a university in Lahore and subsequently handed over to the police after he emerged from hiding to join a protest on the campus against the emergency rule.
A large number of policemen were deployed on the Punjab University campus following reports that Khan, who had gone underground following imposition of emergency on November 3, would come to the institution to lead the protest and address students opposing the emergency.
However, Khan was taken away on his arrival by members of the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT), the student wing of the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami, and locked up in a building for almost 90 minutes.
The Punjab University is a stronghold of the IJT, which said it would not allow the former cricketer to use the students for his "own purposes", TV channels reported. University officials later escorted Khan to the gates of the institution, where he was arrested by a strong police contingent.
Speaking to reporters at the gate, Khan urged people to prepare for a campaign against President Pervez Musharraf and the emergency. Khan was taken to the Iqbal Town police station and then to an undisclosed location. Police officers said an FIR would be lodged against him for violating emergency regulations and participating in a rally.