Pakistan cracks down on corrupt; Bhutto's father-in-law held

In the first major crackdown on corruption since Benazir Bhutto's government left power in disgrace, the police swarmed through two provinces overnight on Thursday raiding the homes of some of Pakistan's rich and influential.

"The crackdown has begun . . . Within one week we expect to arrest 30 to 40 more people,'' said Najam Sethi, an advisor on accountability with the interim government.

Among those arrested overnight was Benazir Bhutto's father-in-law, Hakim Ali Zardari.

He was taken shortly after midnight (early Thursday) from his home in southern Karachi to a jail, not more than few kilometers from where his son, Asif, is being held.

Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto's husband, has been in jail since his wife's government was sacked on November 5. He is charged with murder in connection with the shooting of Bhutto's brother, Murtaza.

The elder Zardari was arrested on charges of income tax evasion and bank fraud, said Sethi.

But his family said the police arrived without an arrest warrant.

"They came in after midnight... They didn't have a warrant or anything... They just took him away,'' said Munawar Talpur, his son-in-law.

In the eastern Punjab capital of Lahore police arrested the once powerful Punjab provincial secretary Aslam Qureshi, also on fraud charges.

News reports said several other prominent officials in the former government as well as the opposition were being sought for questioning.

Among those being named were two former chief ministers of Punjab and a former interior minister in the Nawaz Sharif government.

The Anti-Corruption Commission, set up following Bhutto's dismissal, has come under increasing criticism in recent weeks for its slow pace.

The head of the commission, retired Judge Ghulam Mirza, earlier said the task of rooting out the corrupt was a massive one that could not be rushed.

Transparency International, a Berlin-based group opposed to corruption, last year said businessmen considered Pakistan the second most corrupt country in the world.

Bhutto, who left this week to perform the Islamic pilgrimage of umrah in Saudi Arabia, has accused the president of launching a witch-hunt against her party workers.

President Farooq Leghari used his constitutional authority to dismiss Bhutto's government on a variety of charges ranging from sanctioning police hit squads in southern Karachi to stealing millions of rupees (dollars) from the national exchequer. She has denied all the charges.

A new tough anti-corruption law promulgated by the president bans anyone found guilty of corruption from politics for five years. It also provides for a maximum jail term of 14 years and a hefty fine, equivalent to the amount taken.

The state-run Pakistan Radio gave no details about Hakim Ali Zardari's arrest, but news reports quoted unnamed officials of the Federal Investigation Agency as saying that he was arrested on orders from Islamabad.

Both the father and the son have been widely accused of having an evil and corrupting influence on Bhutto.

A court had ordered Asif Ali's release on bail, but the caretaker government kept him in custody because he is accused of conspiring to murder Murtaza Bhutto.

Murtaza was slain by the police on September 20, starting a chain of events that culminated in the dismissal of Bhutto. A judicial commission is investigating the murder.

UNI