Hundreds arrested in Pakistani crackdown

Police in Pakistan arrested more than 600 people yesterday and raided homes and offices linked to five militant groups banned by General Pervez Musharraf in a new crackdown on extremists.

President Musharraf seemed to be unchallenged after a rare and aggressive speech in which he mocked Pakistan's religious right and outlawed several of the most extreme Islamic parties.

Much of the Pakistani press came down squarely behind him and there was barely a glimmer of protest on the streets. Most hardline religious parties have been effectively sidelined, their leaders locked in jail and their activists demoralised after failing to ignite a street revolt during the war in Afghanistan.

However, it remains to be seen whether the general did enough to avert a war with India. India's foreign minister, Jaswant Singh, said his government was prepared to wait for Pakistan to implement the new policies. "Pakistan has only stated its intention. Let it first walk the talk," he said.

There would be no talks between the two countries unless militants stopped crossing into India over the Line of Control, which divides the mountains of Kashmir, he said.

Over the weekend, 12 rebels, including two Dutch nationals, were killed in separate outbreaks of violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

A spokesman for India's border security force said two suspected militants, identified as Dutch nationals who had flown to New Delhi from Amsterdam last month, were shot dead by Indian soldiers yesterday when they tried to attack a security patrol with knives in Srinagar.

Another 10 militants were shot dead in gun battles elsewhere in the region.

In his national address on Saturday Gen Musharraf outlawed two key militant groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, which are involved in the war in Kashmir and blamed by India for the attack on the New Delhi parliament last month which left 14 people dead.

Lashkar's jailed leader, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, insisted the guerrilla war would go on. "I shall continue my struggle until the Muslim ummah [community] is liberated and Allah's word is established in the world," he said in a message from his prison cell.

Already the militants have started moving their offices to Pakistani Kashmir in an attempt to escape arrest. Gen Musharraf's real test will come in the weeks ahead as he orders the military and the intelligence agencies to prevent the groups re-forming secretly despite the ban.

Senior Pakistani officials say the general is now so confident of his position that he intends to bring forward general elections which were due to be held in October and which will be the first since he seized power in a coup more than two years ago.

Unless the current military tension with India turns into a conflict the president might an nounce an election date as early as July or August, the officials said. An early poll would allow him to capitalise on his perceived support at home and the backing he has secured from western governments since he agreed to help America's war in Afghanistan.

Although Gen Musharraf, who made himself president last year, will not stand for election himself he needs either a national referendum or a vote in parliament to endorse his coup and his position as president. Pakistan's last military dictator, General Zia-ul Haq, won endorsement through an often criticised referendum.

"I think early elections are a realistic possibility unless we go to war," said Ijaz-ul Haq, the politician son of Gen Zia who is known still to have close contacts with the army.

"Things are working for him at the moment. He is being accepted internationally. He can get away with anything."