Islamists held in Pakistani printing press raid

KARACHI, Apr 28 (Reuters) Pakistani police arrested three members of an outlawed Islamist group in the southern city of Karachi today, charging them with propagating hatred against President Pervez Musharraf's government.

The three members of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Liberation Party), an international Islamist organisation, were picked up in a pre-dawn raid on a printing press in central Karachi.

''There were there to collect the literature,'' said Mohammad Khan, an area police official, adding that police had seized more than 10,000 leaflets denouncing Musharraf.

The three men, all in their 20s, were charged under the anti-terrorism law, Khan said.

The police also detained the owner of the printing press.

Hizb ut-Tahrir, formed in Jerusalem in 1953, advocates the formation of a pan-Islamic state. It started operations in Pakistan five years ago, but was banned by the government in 2003.

The group, like several Islamist groups in the country, wants to remove Musharraf because of his support for a U.S.-led global war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

It has a following among educated and professional Pakistanis, many with British and U.S. passports.

REUTERS CH ND1818