Islamist Cricket Star Arrested in Lahore
Charles Johnson
Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 1:01 pm PST • Views: 354
Pakistani Islamist cricket champion Imran Khan has been arrested on terror charges—and interestingly, the Jamaat-i-Islami party helped to capture him. The Musharraf military government has deep connections with Islamist groups.
The cricketing legend Imran Khan faces charges under Pakistani anti-terrorist laws after emerging from hiding today to join a student protest at which he was arrested.
Mr Khan’s detention came as Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore, tried to forge a united opposition against the state of emergency imposed by President Musharraf.
Appearing in public for the first time since he slipped out of detention last week, Mr Khan was grabbed by Islamist students when he tried to take part in a rally at a Lahore university. He was lifted onto the shoulders of demonstrators but punches flew when he was seized by a crowd of radicals then pushed into a nearby building. He was later bundled into a white van and handed over to police.
“He will be charged under the anti-terrorism act,” said Malik Mohammad Iqbal, the Lahore police chief. “Through his speeches he has been inciting people to pick up arms, he has been calling for civil disobedience, he was spreading hatred.” …
Mr Khan was cheered and hoisted in the air by several hundred students when he arrived, alone, on the campus of the University of the Punjab to urge students to rise up against General Musharraf.
But his supporters were soon outnumbered by Islamist protesters from the student wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami party, who bundled him into the nearby Centre for High Energy Physics, held him incommunicado for an hour, then drove him off campus in a van and handed him over to police at the university gates.
Frank says: