Activists detained in Pakistan before judge's visit

KARACHI, May 11 (Reuters) Police in Pakistan detained hundreds of activists on the eve of an anti-government rally planned to welcome the country's suspended top judge to Karachi, opposition leaders said today.

Police confirmed arrests had been made ahead of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's visit to the volatile southern city tomorrow, but didn't say how many.

Attorneys for Chaudhry said the judge was sticking to his plan to address lawyers in Karachi, despite a request from the government to cancel because of fears over terrorism.

Two weeks ago a suicide bomber killed 28 people in an attack targetting the interior minister, who survived.

Opposition leaders said hundreds of activists were detained overnight and in pre-dawn raids in Karachi.

''Throughout the city it seems that hundreds of our workers were arrested, which obviously is aimed at preventing opposition supporters from participating in the chief justice rally,'' said Zain Ansari, a provincial leader of the opposition Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy.

Police also drove off people trying to establish rallying points along the road Chaudhry will take into the city from the airport, and tore down banners put up to welcome him.

The government's suspension of Chaudhry on March 9 angered the judiciary and the opposition, and has blown up into the most serious challenge to President Prevez Musharraf's authority since he seized power in 1999.

Chaudhry denies wrongdoing and has refused to resign in the face of undisclosed charges of misconduct.

His visit to Pakistan's commercial hub of Karachi is the latest in a series of opposition and lawyers protests designed to increase the pressure for his reinstatement.

''The political atmosphere is very charged... We have detained some people to keep the city peaceful on the day when two big rallies are due,'' said Azhar Farooqi, Karachi's police chief.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the main party in the provincial government and a partner in the federal government, has also called for a rally on the day of Chaudhry's visit to oppose him.

Farooqi said the police have requested the provincial authority to declare a public holiday tomorrow in the visibly tense city, where yesterday unidentified gunmen fired at least 16 shots at the house of Munir A Malik, a Chaudhry lawyer.

The attack apparently was aimed at putting pressure on lawyers campaigning for the top judge.

Farooqi said hundreds of paramilitary Rangers and police would guard streets where lawyers and their opponents from the MQM were to hold their rallies.

Reuters SYU GC1500