The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/13/09 Section: News

Mohammad Hussain Mehanti, leader of a Pakistani religious part Jamat-e-Islami, waves to his supporters as he was arrested for participating in anti-government march in Karachi, Pakistan on Thursday. Authorities arrested at least 60 more political activists as they extended a nationwide crackdown Thursday aimed at thwarting plans to head to Pakistan's capital from several cities and surround the country's parliament. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - Club-swinging police blocked the way out of Pakistan's biggest city Thursday, scattering hundreds of demonstrators as the government sought to contain a protest movement that is emerging as a major challenge to its shaky one-year rule.

With anti-government activists vowing to press ahead, the U.S. stepped up efforts to mediate a solution to the crisis, which threatens to undermine its goal of getting nuclear-armed Pakistan to do more in fighting al-Qaida and Taliban militants along the border with Afghanistan.

Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, spoke by phone to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, while U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson met with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. envoys stressed that Washington wants to see "that violence be avoided and that any impediments to peaceful and democratic activities not be put in place."

"We're continuing to watch the situation ... and we will continue to engage the government of Pakistan in discussions, as well as other parties, to try to make sure that what transpires in Pakistan is dealt with within the content of Pakistan's constitution," Wood said.

There were no signs of any breakthrough to calm political squabbling that is looking a lot like the unrest that preceded the removal of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf last year.

Activist lawyers are demanding Zardari fulfill a pledge to reinstate judges fired by Musharraf, a general who ousted Sharif as prime minister in a 1999 coup. But the protest movement heated up last month when the Supreme Court banned Sharif and his brother from elected office.

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