MGPK01: SITREP 20, AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD: BHUTTO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 004837

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2017
TAGS: PGOV PK AEMR AMGT CASC KFLO PREL PINR
SUBJECT: MGPK01: SITREP 20, AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD: BHUTTO
REACHES OUT TO OPPOSITION LEADERS

REF: ISLAMABAD 4824

Classified By: Anne W. Patterson, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (C) Summary: The Pakistan People's Party "long march"
continued November 14, but with much reduced numbers,
resulting from hundreds of arrests. Bhutto remains under
house arrest in Lahore but is busy contacting opposition
party colleagues. Additional religious and nationalist party
leaders have been arrested and transferred to prisons.
Post's request for access to lawyers' movement leader Aitzaz
Ahsan was verbally denied November 13, but Ahsan's daughter
reports that he is physically fine. The GOP has moved to
control the sale of satellite dishes; it also took Sky News
and Fox back off the air. Mission operations continued
normally. End summary.


2. (C) The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) "long march"
continued November 14 from Lahore en route to Islamabad.
According to Post contacts, yesterday's crowd out of Lahore
was estimated only at 350 people; today's crowd has further
shrunk to 200.


3. (U) PPP leader Benazir Bhutto remained in Lahore under
house arrest; CG Lahore reports several thousand police
occupy the neighborhood. She denied any hope of
reconciliation with President Musharraf until the state of
emergency is lifted. She reportedly spoke by phone late
November 13 with the other former prime minister Nawaz
Sharif. Bhutto has also spoken to Jamaat-i-Islami (JI)
leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Awami National Party (ANP)
president Asfandyar Wali Khan. These parties have reportedly
agreed to cooperate against the state of emergency, but they
have not decided on specific events or dates.


4. (U) Despite Bhutto's presence, Lahore remains calm.
Student action against the state of emergency at Lahore
University of Management Sciences and at Punjab University
has occurred without incident. However, the GOP continued
late November 13 to arrest hundreds from the PPP leadership,
particularly in Lahore and throughout Punjab province.


5. (U) PPP continues to stage small rallies throughout
Karachi in protest of Bhutto's house arrest. Police baton
charged a November 13 rally at the Karachi Press Club by the
PPP Women's Wing. Police also baton charged PPP protesters
in Larkhana, the Bhutto ancestral home, which resulted in
arrests.


6. (U) JI number two Liaqat Baloch was arrested late November
13; previously, he had only been detained under house arrest.
Baloch was transported to Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi. The
detention order is for 30 days.


7. (U) The November 13 ANP protest in Peshawar was baton
charged and tear gassed by police. Frontier Province ANP
leader Afrasiab Khattack was arrested along with a dozen
other ANP workers. An indefinite curfew has been issued for
Swat and Malakand. Another ANP rally in Karachi ended in
arrests, including ANP Sindh Secretary General Amin Khatak.


8. (U) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan is
reportedly back under arrest.


9. (C) Post sent November 13 a diplomatic note to MFA
requesting access to Aitzaz Ahsan and Munir Malik, the
current and former Supreme Court Bar Association presidents,
respectively. The Interior Ministry unofficially informed
Post late November 13 that no such access would be granted
because relatives had been allowed to visit them. Bushra
Aitzaz, Ahsan's wife, confirmed that their daughter had been
able to visit once in the last couple of days in order to
deliver medicines. He appeared to be physically fine.
Bushra Aitzaz plans to be back in the capital o/a November 16
to try to see her husband for the first time since his
November 3 arrest.


10. (C) Pakistan's reconstituted Supreme Court grew to 11
justices November 13. However, the Court has not yet set a
new date to rehear the petitions against Musharraf's October

ISLAMABAD 00004837 002 OF 002


6 re-election.


11. (U) CNN, BBC, and now Sky News and Fox, as well as the
largest local cable news channels remain off the air. The
Commerce Ministry issued November 12 a ban on the import of
all equipment used for reception, broadcast and distribution
of satellite signals. Importers will now need to obtain
permission from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory
Authority (PEMRA) to bring in dishes and related equipment.
This measure is in response to increased sales of dishes --
an attempt by Pakistanis to access local, independent news
channels, which the GOP has ordered cable operators to block
since November 3.

PATTERSON