New Delhi, Nov 06: Threat of large-scale protests has started brewing in Pakistan following arrest of top opposition leader Javed Hashmi on charges of inciting the army to rebel, even as the military regime threatened to arrest more opposition Members of National Assembly (MNAs) on charges of treason, media reports said. Interior Minister Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat was quoted as saying in the National Assembly (Pakistani Parliament) that more opposition members could be arrested on treason charges if found involved in the same case as Hashmi, 'The News International' of the Jung Group reported.


Hashmi, who, Hayat said, would be tried for treason, was recently elected president of the 15-party alliance for restoration of democracy.


"Is he the Member of Parliament of this country or of Indian Parliament," the Interior Minister was quoted as asking in a local daily 'The News'. Hayat had defected last year from former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party to join the Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali government.
Bureau Report