ISLAMABAD Mar 31: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) said on Friday that its call for a nationwide strike for Saturday had met with success even before being observed as the government, in its desperate bid to fail it, “arrested more than 2,500 workers” across the country. It was, however, demoralizing for the MMA that its secretary-general and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, left the country in mysterious circumstances although the alliance president, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, described his departure as pre-scheduled.

The MMA has claimed that a vast majority of traders, business houses, transporters, major political parties and social organisations have assured it of cooperation to make the ‘shutter-down’ strike a success. Its central leader Liaquat Baloch told newsmen that police had rounded up MMA workers from Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Jhelum and a number of other places.

He condemned the government for showing “unnecessary alarm” concerning a peaceful expression of public resentment against frequent increases in the prices of petroleum products, which had made the life of common man difficult.

The MMA leader said that while former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek Insaf chief Imran Khan had extended full support to the strike call, other opposition parties, including the PPP Parliamentarians, had expressed solidarity with the MMA.

In Rawalpindi, he said, 25 people had been detained till Friday afternoon and a permanent police picket erected outside the Jamaat-i-Islami office. Mr Baloch said MMA’s strike call was not meant to score points. It would provide a base for the final round of movement “to oust the Musharraf regime”.

Referring to the statements of Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao and Sindh’s governor and chief minister, he said they spoke volumes about the fears that had “shaken the government from within”.

MMA’s acting secretary general Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said the government’s statements reflected its admission that it was unable to stop the strike. He said the government was so much alarmed by the prospect of a successful strike that its top functionaries, including the prime minister and chief ministers of two provinces, had come out in its opposition.

He said the oil tankers’ strike had vindicated the stand of MMA that the people were fed up with the government policies which were resulting in price hike. In Karachi, police launched a major crackdown against MMA leaders and activists on Thursday night which continued on Friday. The force rounded up scores of them.

City police Chief Tariq Jameel confirmed over 200 arrests. A massive deployment of police was made in the city in an effort to foil possible attempts by miscreants to create a law and order situation on the eve of the strike.

Our Lahore Correspondent adds: Punjab police reportedly picked up hundreds of MMA activists on Friday.

Police sources said the crackdown had been launched all over the province, and raids conducted on all important leaders and activists of the religious parties’ alliance.

They said the number of those picked was less than 500 in Punjab, while the MMA claimed that the number was in thousands.

“Over 3,000 of our workers have been picked up mainly in Punjab and Sindh. The activists are being harassed and intimidated,” claimed Qazi Hussain Ahmad, while speaking at a press conference.

The sources said all district police heads had been provided lists of the MMA workers who could be any threat to law and order on the strike-call day. They added most of them had been picked up, and strict warnings had been left with the families of those who could not be traced by the police.

“We will not allow anybody to force traders to shut down their shops. We will extend security to the life and property,” said Lahore Operations police chief Aftab Cheema.

The sources said that raids were continuing, and there were reports that some of the important leaders of the MMA could be taken into custody late night.