Dissident Leader, Ex-Envoy Are Arrested in Pakistan

VIDEO | Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview that Pakistan must hold elections and that he must take off his military uniform in the near future.

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"Musharraf is creating terrorists and converting Pakistan into a rogue state, and we are regular Pakistani folk who just want peace," she said. "It's horrifying as a citizen of Pakistan and a citizen of the world."

Asked about the arrest of the former ambassador, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "The president would like to see everyone detained during this period released, and for the state of emergency to be lifted."

Thousands of lawyers, leaders of civil society groups and opposition party workers have been jailed since the imposition of emergency rule almost two weeks ago. Musharraf has said they are a threat to the country's security. In declaring emergency rule, he argued that he needed a free hand to battle militant groups in the country's northwest, where the Taliban and al-Qaeda have operations.

Critics say his actual targets have been civic activists, whom he sees as a threat to his power.

"At a time where Musharraf should be more conciliatory, he is actually digging in harder," a Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan's latest prominent political prisoner is Khan, who had been evading arrest since police arrived at his Lahore home in the middle of the night at the start of emergency rule. In an interview last week, he said he had escaped by jumping over two walls in his garden while officers were seeking a warrant.

On Wednesday, he wasn't as lucky. He emerged from hiding to attend a protest he had organized at Punjab University in Lahore. On the leafy campus, he was greeted by hundreds of students, who chanted "Emergency must go!" and hoisted him into the air like a rock star, according to witnesses.

But other students, apparently embittered with Khan, pulled him down and held him for more than an hour, the witnesses said. Eventually he was handed over to police outside the campus gates and hustled into a white van.

"Today, I am ashamed to be a Pakistani. Nearly every leader of this country has been tossed in jail," said Hafeez Niazi, Khan's brother-in-law. Niazi said he had information suggesting that government supporters on the campus had paid students to help arrest Khan.

Niazi said Khan's supporters would protest his arrest "to tell the people that this can't be Pakistan."

Staff writer Robin Wright in Washington contributed to this report.