KARACHI, May 11: In a massive crackdown, police detained hundreds of political workers on the eve of an anti-government rally planned to welcome Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to the city.

City police chief Azhar Farooqi told Dawn that around 170 activists belonging to different opposition parties had been rounded up under the Maintenance of Public Order.

However, opposition parties claimed that the number of workers arrested was far greater.

The Pakistan People’s Party claimed that 400 workers – at least half of them in former district Malir -- had been picked up by the police in predawn raids.

Sindh PPP Deputy Secretary Information Waqar Mehdi said the whereabouts of 200 workers arrested in the limits of Steel Town, Gadap and Shah Latif police stations was not known.

A spokesman for the Mutthaida Majlis-i-Amal claimed that 500 workers had been detained by law enforcers during nightlong raids in the city.

He added that raids had been carried out at the houses of MMA leaders Muslim Pervaiz, Kamal Farooqi, Saifuddin, Masoor Ahmed and Naseem Siddiqui.

Additional PML-N information secretary Sardar Rahim claimed that 150 workers had been picked up by agencies. The police raided the houses of Saleem Zia, Sardar Rahim and other party leaders.

While the opposition parties faced a police crackdown, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists were seen putting up party flags and banners in parts of the city employing, in some cases, vehicles of the KESC.

The city remained in the grip of tension on Friday morning when a security guard Amir Malik was shot dead near the airport by unknown persons who were forcing closure of shops. Reports of sporadic firing were received from different parts of the city, especially Lyari.