KARACHI, Nov 1: More opposition leaders condemned the arrest of Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, the acting chief of Pakistan Muslim League-N and President of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy. Terming his arrest an act of immaturity on the part of the government, they demanded on Friday his immediate release.

President of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Sindh and MNA Asadullah Bhutto, in a statement, said Mr Hashmi’s arrest and institution of cases against Nisar Khuhro and others showed that the government was upset at the ongoing opposition campaign against President Musharraf and his polices on Kalabagh Dam and Greater Thal Canal. The ‘harsh’ steps were aimed at harassing the opposition but the authorities were mistaken.

He said there was no basis for the cases that had been instituted against the opposition leaders. The army was not so weak that one letter would usher in a mutiny. “We have full faith in our armed forces and its capabilities to defend the country and meet the challenges of conspiracies against it,” he added.

Senior politician Mairaj Muhammad Khan termed Mr Hashmi’s arrest contrary to all democratic norms, as no MNA could be arrested during the National Assembly session.

PML-N’s Vice-President, Mian Ejaz Shafi, said the government’s step sent a particular kind of message to the opposition which was struggling for restoration of the 1973 Constitution and supremacy of the parliament.