UPDATED: The Latest on the Long March in Pakistan

UPDATE (8:30 p.m. GMT): Some of those detained by Pakistani security forces, including Munir Malik, have now been released.

Meanwhile, there is some intriguing political manoeuvring between the Zardari Government and the US. In a pointed signal that Washington was keeping its options open, US Ambassador Anne Patterson met with Nawaz Sharif on Thursday. Then US envoy Richard Holbrooke joined Patterson and President Zardari in a 20-minute phone conversation and "expressed concern over the political turmoil and arrest of political and lawyers....[The] US wanted continuity of democracy in Pakistan so that war against terrorism could be taken to its logical end." Holbrooke urged Zardari to "show restraint" in his handling of the political opposition.

The Long March, organised by lawyers to protest against the policies of the Zardari Government and its interference with the judiciary, began this afternoon in several Pakistan cities. It started in Lahore just over a half-hour after its start time of 12 noon, with 500 lawyers moving toward the High Court. They were soon joined by another 500 peoples, including some with the flags of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and Jamaat-i-Islami, the oldest religious party in Pakistan.

Later in the afternoon, another group of about 2000 protestors began moving from Karachi to Islamabad. The march was led by the lawyers’ movement, including former Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir A. Malik and Sindh High Court Bar Association President Rasheed A. Rizvi, but also includes students and party members from PML (N), Jamaat-i-Islami, and Labour.

Malik, Rizvi, and several other march leaders were detained just over an hour later, and other arrests followed. The total detained is now estimated at 100, and police have baton-charged the marchers. Others have had their bus and car keys confiscated, stranding them at Karachi Toll Plaza.

Pakistan: On Eve of Political Showdown, Hundreds Arrested

From this morning's The Times of London:

Pakistan has arrested hundreds of opposition political activists in an overnight sweep before a planned protest rally, as a looming political showdown presents the most serious challenge yet to the year-old government [of President Asif Ali Zardari, pictured at left).

The story continues:

Most of those arrested belong to the popular Pakistan Muslim League (N) led by Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister, and Tehrik-e-Insaf, the party led by Imran Khan, the former cricket captain.

A senior politician in the Pakistan Muslim League (N), Raja Zafarul Haq, was placed under house arrest and this morning police were hunting for Imran Khan. Scores of other MPs and lawyers have gone into hiding to avoid detention.

A ban has been placed on public gatherings across the country and heavy contingents of police and paramilitary troops sealed off the capital Islamabad where opposition parties and lawyers plan to stage a sit-in outside the parliament building on Friday.