Police detained hundreds of Pakistani opposition figures and lawyers on Sunday as military ruler President Pervez Musharraf tried to stifle the outcry over his imposition of a state of emergency.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said national elections, due in January, might be rescheduled because of General Musharraf's decision on Saturday to announce emergency rule, which was condemned by the United States and other Western allies.
BBC - Musharraf targets key opponents
Pakistani opposition leaders and activists have been detained in the wake of President Pervez Musharraf's decision to declare emergency rule.
The acting head of the party of exiled former PM Nawaz Sharif was arrested, senior lawyers have been detained and the country's chief justice sacked.
BBC - Musharraf takes on Pakistan's judges
The proclamation of emergency in Pakistan has made one big difference. All the nearly 30 TV news channels have gone off the air. And with them has gone all the cacophony about the political, judicial and military crisis in the country.
Pakistan's military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, suspended the constitution and proclaimed emergency rule in a televised address on Saturday evening.
Soon afterwards, TV cable operators said they were asked by the government to stop beaming all local and foreign news channels, except the official Pakistan Television Corp (PTV).
Meanwhile, resentment is brewing among the judges of the higher judiciary. More than 60 judges, out of a total of 97, have declined to take oath under the new Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).
Their homes have been placed under strict security, presumably to prevent them from going to the courts on Monday, as some of them plan to do.
In a hurriedly-called sitting on Saturday evening, seven Supreme Court judges issued an order barring the government from proclaiming emergency rule, and advising the state functionaries not to carry out emergency orders, if issued.
AP - Pakistani police detain 500 activists
Police and soldiers emboldened by state of emergency powers swept up hundreds of activists and opposition members on Sunday, dragged away protesters shouting "Shame on you!", and turned government buildings into barbed-wire compounds.
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