This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/7944527.stm
The article has changed 14 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Pakistan ex-PM ignores 'arrest' | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Pakistan opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has defied an apparent house arrest order to join a protest in Lahore. | |
| Describing the order - denied by the government - as "illegal" he left his Lahore house urging people to join him. | |
| "The time has come to march hand in hand," Mr Sharif said after describing Pakistan as a "police state". | |
| Police fired tear gas at the protesters who are planning to march to Islamabad to demand the reinstatement of judges sacked by the former government. | |
| It is not clear if Mr Sharif will be allowed to join the protest, says our Islamabad correspondent Barbara Plett. | It is not clear if Mr Sharif will be allowed to join the protest, says our Islamabad correspondent Barbara Plett. |
| Moments earlier, Mr Sharif told those gathered outside his home that police had "blocked all roads, they have used all sorts of unlawful tactics". | Moments earlier, Mr Sharif told those gathered outside his home that police had "blocked all roads, they have used all sorts of unlawful tactics". |
| Mr Sharif has thrown his weight behind a planned nationwide "long march" to Islamabad on Monday by lawyers demanding the reinstatement of judges removed by the former government. | Mr Sharif has thrown his weight behind a planned nationwide "long march" to Islamabad on Monday by lawyers demanding the reinstatement of judges removed by the former government. |
| The authorities have banned rallies, citing a security threat | The authorities have banned rallies, citing a security threat |
| The demonstrators are planning to converge on the capital for a sit-in outside parliament. | The demonstrators are planning to converge on the capital for a sit-in outside parliament. |
| But the government has set up roadblocks to seal off Islamabad and banned rallies, saying they could trigger violence. | But the government has set up roadblocks to seal off Islamabad and banned rallies, saying they could trigger violence. |
| Our Islamabad correspondent says the campaign over the judges has become a power struggle between Mr Sharif and current President Asif Ali Zardari. | Our Islamabad correspondent says the campaign over the judges has become a power struggle between Mr Sharif and current President Asif Ali Zardari. |
| President Zardari - the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto - promised to bring back the judges when he took office last year following his wife's assassination. | President Zardari - the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto - promised to bring back the judges when he took office last year following his wife's assassination. |
| Riot police surrounded Mr Sharif's home on Saturday night before blocking all access roads and reportedly baton-charging his supporters when they came to protest. | Riot police surrounded Mr Sharif's home on Saturday night before blocking all access roads and reportedly baton-charging his supporters when they came to protest. |
| Mr Sharif's brother, Shahbaz, also a senior politician, was said to be in hiding in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad at a property also surrounded by police. | |
| PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told the BBC President Zardari was using "undemocratic measures... to crack down on a very peaceful movement". | |
| But interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told the BBC the police were outside Mr Sharif's home for his own protection because of the threat from terrorists. | |
| "I categorically confirm no restraining orders, no arrest warrant, no house arrest. He's totally free to move anywhere in the country," Mr Malik said. | |
| Long-running tensions | |
| Mr Sharif was ousted as prime minister in 1999 during a coup by General Pervez Musharraf, who ruled until September 2008. | |
| Deja-vu in crackdownQ&A: Pakistan political instability | |
| Tensions between Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif date back to the 1990s, but the two formed a brief partnership in government after parliamentary elections in February 2008. | |
| Mr Sharif's party later left the alliance, complaining of reluctance by the Mr Zardari's Pakistan People's Party to reinstate the judges sacked by the last government. | |
| Relations have been further strained in recent weeks by a Supreme Court decision to ban Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from elected office, and President Zardari's decision to put their stronghold in Punjab province under direct rule from Islamabad. | |
| Shahbaz Sharif was Punjab's chief minister. | |
| But on Saturday, in a move seen as a conciliatory gesture, the government agreed to seek a review of the Supreme Court ruling. | |
| The political instability comes as Pakistan faces an economic crisis and a growing militant insurgency based in the north-west. |