More than four dozen political persons, most of them PML (N) workers and lawyers have been arrested in Faisalabad, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh districts in the wake of declaration of emergency in the country.
The district president of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and ex MNA Safdar Rehman, ex-MPA Malik Muhammad Nawaz and Shahid Mehmood Baig have also been arrested and detained in police stations. The police also picked up eleven lawyers from various parts of the industrial city. The number of arrests is likely to increase as police continue raids on residences of several other political leaders in different cities. Chaudhry Sher Ali close relative of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif managed to escape from his residence Kashmir House few minutes before the raid.
Tanveer ur Rehman Randhawa, president of the District Bar Association has condemned the arrested of the lawyers and demanded of President General Pervez Musharraf to lift the emergency as soon as possible and restore the Constitution.