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Pak govt releases two arrested leaders; banishes two others

Pakistan government has released two leaders of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy who were arrested on Wednesday night for planning to hold a rally in Islamabad on Friday demanding an end to army rule.

ARD President Nasrullah Khan, who was arrested along with 24 others while attending a meeting in Lahore, was released along with the acting president of the Pakistan Muslim League, Javed Hashmi. The leaders, however, vowed to go ahead with the rally.

The two other arrested leaders, Makhdoom Amin Faheem, acting president of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Asfandyar Wali, president of the Awami National party, have been told not to enter Punjab province. Lahore is the capital of the province.

The four were among the leaders and activists of various parties who were arrested from a house when they met to discuss the arrangements for the rally which they planned to hold on the occasion of Pakistan's National Day on Friday.

ARD is an umbrella organisation, formed in 2000 by all the major political parties of Pakistan, to fight against the military dictatorship and restoration of democracy.

The arrests followed a countrywide crackdown during the past three days in which over 3000 activists of different political parties have been arrested.

Nasarullah Khan, who came to attend the meeting from a hospital where he underwent treatment for a cardiac ailment, said that the rally and the public meeting would be held at all costs, despite the arrests.

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