Pakistan rounds up 50 Sharif men

Police have rounded up around 50 supporters of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ahead of his planned return to the country next week, officials said Tuesday.
The activists from Sharif's faction of the Pakistan Muslim League party were detained in Punjab province, Pakistan's most populous area and the base for the ex-premier's support.
Sharif has vowed to come back to Pakistan on September 10 and stop the re-election for another term as president of Pervez Musharraf, the man who toppled him in a bloodless coup in 1999.
"Around 50 of our workers have been rounded up from their homes and from party offices in several cities in Punjab," party chairman Raja Zafarul-Haq told AFP.
"The government is nervous about the return of Nawaz Sharif and they want to sabotage the reception he is going to get when he returns, but they cannot dent our commitment to our leader," he added.
"We condemn this vulgar, unconstitutional act by law enforcement officials at the behest of the president's regime."
Pakistani authorities confirmed that there had been a number of arrests from Sharif's party but would not give specific numbers.
"We have rounded up a few people because they are potential troublemakers who were instigating violence in their speeches," a government official said on condition of anonymity.
"It is not a general crackdown. It is specific to those who may create a serious law and order situation."
However, former premier Sharif's intention to return to Pakistan was criticised late Tuesday by Saudi Arabia, the country that gave him shelter after he was ousted by Musharraf.
"Wisdom dictates that Mr Nawaz Sharif abide by his promises not to return to Pakistan and to political activity," said an unnamed spokesman quoted by the state SPA news agency.
The spokesman denied what he said were claims in some Pakistani newspapers that Riyadh "supports" the return of Sharif and his family to Pakistan.
He said the kingdom had offered Sharif asylum for humanitarian considerations, which the Pakistani government and Musharraf had responded to positively.
Meanwhile, former premier Benazir Bhutto told AFP yesterday there had been progress in talks on a power-sharing deal with President Pervez Musharraf and that she was ready to meet him face to face.
The two-time prime minister added that she would return home from self-exile on corruption charges in London and Dubai in "weeks, not months," ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections due in coming months.
"There has been progress in some areas and we are working on those areas," she told the news agency in a telephone interview after the stalled negotiations restarted this week, adding that the progress was "good."
"I prefer face-to-face negotiations (but) between himself and myself I also appreciate that he has got a country to run and that might be very difficult," she said when asked if she would meet the military ruler.
Talks held in London last week between aides of Benazir and Musharraf ended in deadlock, with the ex-premier saying that she would announce a date for her return on September 14.
But the negotiations restarted in the Gulf emirate of Dubai this week.
Asked when she now planned to fly back to Pakistan, which she left in 1998, Benazir said that it would be "weeks, not months."
Benazir said one of the key issues in the negotiations -- whether Musharraf will quit his role as army chief ahead of his bid to be re-elected as president in September or October -- was "resolved". She did not elaborate.
The main progress in this week's talks was on the issue of "free and fair elections," she said. Sources from her Pakistan People's Party said these included the setting up of a caretaker government before polls.
But the negotiations are now focused on solving other sticking points, including whether Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, should cede his powers to dissolve parliament, Benazir said.
Meanwhile Benazir put forward her credentials as a moderate leader who would be tough on Islamic militancy, a growing problem in Pakistan amid pressure from Washington to crack down on Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels.
Negotiations between the Musharraf and Benazir camps were given extra urgency last week when another former premier, Nawaz Sharif, said he planned to return to Pakistan from exile on September 10.
Sharif was ousted by Musharraf in 1999 and has vowed to oppose the president's bid to be re-elected.
He has criticised former ally Benazir's dealings with Musharraf, slamming her for dealing with the "dictatorship".