Islamabad: Pakistani authorities on Sunday placed Opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif under house arrest, his party spokesman said.
“People of Pakistan are vigilant and they will not allow any dictatorship in the country,” Sharif told CNN-IBN on the phone after being detained in house in Lahore.
"The government is using all undemocratic means to stop the long march. Why is the government afraid of a simple movement, which is so peaceful?" he said.
Sharif alleged President Asif Ali Zardari had "failed" and "reply to his failures". "He has gone against Charter Of Democracy but people of Pakistan are vigilant and they will not allow any dictatorship in the country. "
Sharif had planned to head an anti-government rally from Lahore to Islamabad and a sit-in in the federal capital for independence of judiciary on Monday.
Ahsan Iqbal, the spokesman of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said the former prime minister has been detained at his residence in Lahore together with his nephew and a member of parliament and dozens of supporters.
"Hundreds of policemen have surrounded the residence. It is very unfortunate, undemocratic. But this will not defeat our determination," Iqbal said over phone.
He said the party workers would continue to head to Islamabad for the rally, dubbed the "long march". Sharif would be kept under house arrest for three days.
PML-N leader Naseer Ahmed Bhutta, who was outside Sharif's house, said: “detention orders have been issued for Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and other senior party leaders."
Sharif's brother, Shahbaz, is a former chief minister of Punjab and a senior member of his party.
Punjab Police in riot gear sealed off Sharif's house with roadblocks on all approaches. Police also placed under house arrest Jamat-e-Islami (JI) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed and the leader of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf Imran Khan, Geo News reported.
The house arrest of Sharif came a day after Zardari's government announced concessions for Sharif.
A presidential spokesman said late on Friday the government would appeal a controversial court ruling that barred Sharif from elected office, and pledged to resolve the issue of reinstatement of judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf, the two main demands of the opposition.
Sharif has thrown his support behind a protest campaign by anti-government lawyers that threatens to bring turmoil to Pakistan as the government struggles to stem militancy and to revive a flagging economy.
Government officials were not available for comment. Police have detained hundreds of lawyers and opposition activists since a crackdown was launched on Wednesday in a bid to stifle plans by lawyers and opposition parties for a cross-country "long march" protest.
Protest leaders say they are still determined to hold a sit-in outside parliament in Islamabad on Monday.
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