With 12 days left for the presidential elections, Pakistan’s security forces continue their crackdown on opposition leaders, the Pakistani daily The Nation reports.
More than 70 senior leaders and cadres of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), a conglomerate of several opposition parties, were arrested on Sunday, according to security officials.
The sources said they were given orders by the "top government management" to arrest opposition leaders in order to prevent any disturbances to the presidential election scheduled for October 6.
APDM leader Makhdum Javed Hashmi, who was among those arrested, said the opposition would request the judiciary to stop the wave of arrests.
Just before Hashmi’s arrest, a local television team from Waqt TV was interviewing him. The security forces that raided into his apartment prevented the team from covering the arrest and locked it in a separate room, The Nation reported.
Meanwhile, it is has been reported that Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will arrive in Karachi on October 18, after eight years in exile.