Police on Saturday put opposition politician and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Imran Khan under house arrest, and detained dozen of people protesting against the visit of US President George W. Bush.
"I have been placed under house arrest just to appease George W. Bush. You would think I was Osama bin Laden the way they have treated me", Imran Khan told AFP.
The PTI chief said he was leaving a friend's house after supper at around 1:00 am when police served him with a detention order to stop him leading a demonstration later on Saturday in Rawalpindi.
"The police had been following me for two days, and I was planning to spend the night away from home because I knew the animal I was dealing with," Khan said, adding: "When I came out from my friend's house after dinner there were four or five police cars waiting for me."
The police, holding a detention order from a magistrate, then escorted him to his lakeside house near Islamabad where they were guarding him as Bush met President General Pervez Musharraf for talks.
"Bush obviously agrees with Musharraf's version of democracy, which is to clamp down on anyone who protests against you," Khan said. "We wanted to hold a peaceful demonstration, it was our right," he added.
Police later used batons to break up a small demonstration in Rawalpindi by PTI workers, who were shouting: "Killer Bush, Go Back" and "Friend of Bush is a Traitor". They arrested some 35 people at the scene, witnesses said.
Also in Rawalpindi, police foiled an attempt by two non-governmental organisations to stage an anti-Bush rally and arrested 10 activists, including six women.
A lawmaker from Pakistan's main alliance of Islamic parties who was meant to lead the protest in Imran Khan's absence was also put under protective detention on Saturday, a spokesman said.
Police were holding Hanif Abbasi at his house in Rawalpindi, said Shahid Shamsi, a spokesman for the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA).
The MMA called for Pakistanis to observe a "Black Day" to mark Bush's visit and around 500 anti-Bush protesters gathered in Multan waving black flags and wearing black armbands.
"The United States is dreaming of becoming the master of South Asia and it wants to divide Pakistan and Afghanistan into smaller states," MMA Secretary-General Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman told reporters.
Thousands took to the streets on Friday ahead of Bush's visit. Police tear-gassed demonstrators in Karachi and baton-charged others in Rawalpindi.
Also on Friday, a strike called by the MMA in protest against controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) brought the country to a virtual standstill.
Critics say he has veered between political extremes, initially supporting Musharraf and then allying himself with the Islamic hard-liners behind Friday's strike.
Last year, he was one of the first public figures to highlight allegations in Newsweek - subsequently retracted by the magazine - that copies of the Quran were defiled in the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.
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