Pakistan opposition says 1,200 supporters detained

ISLAMABAD, June 6 (Reuters) Pakistani authorities have detained more than 1,200 opposition party activists in a bid to thwart protests against the government, opposition party officials said today.

The government has been facing a growing opposition campaign since President Pervez Musharraf tried to dismiss the country's top judge in March and about 40 people were killed in Karachi last month in clashes between rival political activists.

''Our workers are being detained in all over Punjab,'' said Ehsan Iqbal, a leader of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League opposition party.

The party and its opposition allies plan a day of protests in Punjab province tomorrow in support of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and the media, which is facing increasing government curbs.

Musharraf, who is also army chief, suspended Chaudhry over unspecified misconduct on March 9. The move outraged lawyers and the opposition and has blown up into a broad campaign for the restoration of democracy.

The campaign is the biggest challenge to Musharraf's authority since he took power in 1999.

Iqbal said more than 550 workers had been detained while former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and the religious Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party together reported 675 arrests.

The government often conducts what are known as ''preventive detentions'' before protests, picking up activists and holding them briefly, on the grounds of keeping the peace.

The Punjab government's home secretary, Kursro Pervez Khan, said 312 activists had been detained to maintain law and order.

But opposition leaders said the protests would go ahead.

''All their efforts are to crush the opposition but things are getting out of their control. It's the last flicker of the dying candle,'' said Liaqat Baloch, a top JI leader.

US HOPES While the crisis is seen to have weakened Musharraf's political position in the run-up to elections, support for him from the army and the United States has been firm.

A senior US official said Washington wanted to see the crisis settled smoothly by a court decision acceptable to all.

''For us, it needs to be handled smoothly and cleanly as a judicial matter to be decided by judges hearing the case... a decision that everyone respects,'' US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said in an interview with Pakistan's Dawn News TV.

Musharraf wants to get re-elected by sitting national and provincial assemblies, perhaps in September, before they are dissolved for general elections.

But he is believed to be reluctant to give up his post of army chief as he is constitutionally required to do this year.

Analysts believe Musharraf's main motive for seeking to replace Chaudhry stemmed from doubts the top Supreme Court judge would be supportive in the event of constitutional challenges to the president's re-election plans.

Boucher, asked about exiled former prime ministers Bhutto and Sharif being allowed back for the elections, said the United States was not concerned with individuals but with the transparency of the proceedings, Dawn News said.

Bhutto has had talks on a deal with Musharraf but analysts say prospects have dimmed since the violence in Karachi.

REUTERS KN RK2032