GUJRANWALA, May 4: When his repeated pleas to police about his life-long affiliation with President Pervez Musharraf fell flat, the first thing that came to Hamza Butt’s mind was that an army coup had overthrown the Musharraf regime.

Police picked up Mr Butt, local leader of the Pakistan Muslim League, during a crackdown on opposition workers to thwart a reception for the chief justice of Pakistan. He tried to convince police that he was from the ruling PML and they should look for some other Hamza Butt from the PPP or the PML-N but all in vain. Mr Hamza who was released after hours-long detention told Dawn that after police reluctance to let him go, he thought that the Musharraf’s government had gone and now it was “our turn to face the music”. Police released him without tendering an apology.