LAHORE: Pakistani police said that cricket legend Imran Khan is to be charged under anti-terrorism legislation following
his arrest on Wednesday.
"He will be charged under the anti-terrorism act," Lahore police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal said while talking to an international news agency.
"Through his speeches he has been inciting people to pick up arms, he has been calling for civil disobedience, he was spreading hatred," Iqbal said.
Khan was detained at a
university in Lahore when he emerged from hiding to join a protest against the state of
emergency imposed by President Pervez Musharraf.
Earlier today, he was arrested by police after he emerged from hiding to join a student rally against President Pervez Musharraf''s emergency rule, police said.
"I came to the university to lead a rally of students against the dictator Musharraf and his illegal actions," Khan said while talking to a French news agency by telephone from police custody as he was whisked away from the campus.
"I have achieved my purpose. I have started the student movement."
Imran Khan said he was betrayed by students who "collaborated" with the administration of Lahore''s Punjab University.
"They took me into the office and then forced me out into a van. They did not allow me to be arrested publicly," he said.
Police said that Imran Khan, who called for Musharraf to be hanged for treason after the military ruler declared a state of emergency on November 3, would be placed back under house arrest.
"He is in police custody and he is under 90 days detention," Rana Mansoor, district police chief was quoted as saying earlier after the arrest. "The orders were issued under the maintenance of public order laws."