BY SEAN HEALY
The military dictatorship of General Pervaiz Musharraf has arrested hundreds of oppositionists in an attempt to prevent them staging a pro-democracy protest on May Day in Karachi, Pakistan's main port and largest city.
Police and soldiers raided homes during the early hours of April 26, arresting up to 500 people. They also attempted to prevent leaders of the anti-dictatorship Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) from traveling to Karachi from northern cities.
The wave of arrests, the second in just over a month, are aimed at crushing the ARD, an alliance of 18 parties formed in October. In March, the regime arrested hundreds of ARD activists, including top alliance leaders, in an attempt to repress a pro-democracy protest in Lahore on March 23.
The May 1 rallies in Karachi, Lahore and other cities will demand a return to democracy, greater workers' rights and an end to privatisation of state utilities.
As in March, the regime has moved swiftly to ban the public shows of opposition, stating that it would only allow indoor meetings on May 1. The ARD has said it will defy the ban go ahead with the Karachi rally.
By April 28 the regime had arrested around 1500 oppositionists, including Shoaib Bhatti, chairperson of the socialist Labour Party Pakistan, one of the major parties involved in the ARD.
In a joint press statement issued April 28 from Lahore, LPP general secretary Farooq Tariq, LPP Punjab secretary Zafar Awan and ARD Punjab secretary Yousaf Baluch, warned the military government that the arrests would not stop the May 1 rally going head as planned.