Protests, violence rock Pakistan

At least one policeman was killed as security forces fought to control continued mass protests against military rule in Pakistan, government sources said.

They said the policeman died as police tried to disperse several thousand people storming a jail and a railroad station and looting warehouses in Dadu, 200 miles north of Karachi.

The sources said the crowd had freed about 100 prisoners from the Dadu jail. Police arrested 200 people, they added. Police fired in the air as they dispersed the mob, as they had during violent demonstrations Tuesday, when crowds set fire to court buildings and damaged others.

In Peshawar, opposition sources said police Wednesday arrested more than 30 political dissidents, including the MRD leader. Police arrested Begum Nasim Wali Khan one day before she was to lead a rally in Peshawar, the sources said. She had taken over Tuesday as head of MRD, an alliance of eight banned political parties. The opposition said police also arrested her father-in-law, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a veteran leader of the Pathan people, who supports the MRD protests.

Opposition sources had said a successful rally in Peshawar could be crucial to the MRD cause, since a large turnout would spread the demonstrations beyond the volatile Sind province. The protests led by MRD have been confined so far largely to Sind, home of executed former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his Pakistan People's Party.