ISLAMABAD, Nov 12: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Monday condemned the government for its attempts to “hound and harass its activists” and claimed that its 2,000 activists and leaders had been arrested across Sindh on Sunday.

The party’s information secretary Sherry Rehman said in a statement on Monday that on top of 6,500 activists arrested following after the November 3 imposition of martial law, the regime on Sunday rounded up another 2,000 workers and leaders to harass them into giving up the strong protests launched by the party.

She said that Sunday’s arrests also targeted the senior party leaders, including Qaim Ali Shah, Raza Rabbani, Yousuf Talpur and Waqar Mehdi.

In Punjab too, she said, police were zealously hounding PPP workers and so far it had made over 700 arrests in an attempt to pre-empt the party’s ‘long march’ to Islamabad.

Condemning the use of brute force against those participating in peaceful rallies, Ms Rehman said the regime’s onslaught against activists of political parties and civil society groups reflected its fear of growing public unrest over the imposition of martial law.

She said the use of brute force by police in Jamshoro was reportedly the first incident of firing on protesting activists since the imposition of martial law.

She said the draconian amendment to the Army Act 1952 gave the regime another licence to nab political and civil activists and try them for treason even when they were exercising their constitutional right to express their displeasure over a certain action by the regime.

Demanding immediate release of all political workers, civil society activists, lawyers and judges, she said each act of violation of human rights would result in greater public unrest and fuel violent confrontation.

Naheed Khan, political secretary to the PPP chairperson, in a statement said the universal recognition of Ms Bhutto as the most popular leader of Pakistan had infuriated the dictatorship as it knew that its days were numbered.Commenting on Gen Musharraf’s remarks about Ms Bhutto in his press conference, she said Gen Musharraf got baffled because he had the images of three million people on the streets of Karachi on October 18 to receive Ms Bhutto. She said the shoeless and shirtless people of Pakistan had come from far-flung areas of different parts of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas on foot to receive their sister.

“The reception in Karachi should have been an eye-opener for the dictatorship but like all autocratic characters Gen Musharraf is refusing to accept the ground realities,” she said.