Pakistan Puts Sharif Under House Arrest

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 14, 2009 11:05 PM CDT

(Newser) – Pakistan's tensions reached new heights today as President Zardari put rival Nawaz Sharif under house arrest, the New York Times reports. The move comes just hours before Sharif was to address supporters at a demonstration in Lahore. The government, meanwhile, has begun pulling troops away from the fight against militants and moving them toward Islamabad in advance of a mass protest there Monday, notes the Wall Street Journal. US efforts to defuse the crisis have apparently been rebuffed.

Sharif and his brother have reportedly been confined for three days. The latest trouble began 3 weeks ago when the Supreme Court barred Sharif, a former prime minister, from holding public office. He and his supporters say Zardari engineered the vote and demand that the president reinstate fired justices. They have joined forces with a lawyers' movement. Meanwhile, Zardari's support appears to be fraying from within—his information minister quit yesterday to protest a clampdown on the media.

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Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif talks with a reporter last month. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary)

Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif during an interview in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary)

Asif Ali Zardari, in a 2008 file photo. (AP Photo/Pakistan People's Party/HO, FILE)

Pakistani lawyers hold candles as they shout anti-government slogans during a demonstration next to the High Court of Lahore, Pakistan, Saturday. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Pakistani lawyers express their anger, protesting against arrests of their colleagues in Karachi, Pakistan, Saturday, March 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Pakistani lawyers and opposition parties activists hold black flag as they march on a road during an anti-government rally in Peshawar, Pakistan, Saturday. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

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It may affect our fight against terrorists, but we don't have any choice. - Interior Minister Rehman Malik, on the movement of troops toward the capital

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