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Last week police arrested Bhutto, along with six members of his party. For good measure, the cops also picked up 134 other politicians, including the chief advocates of a separate state of Pushtunistan for approximately 9,000,000 Pushtu-speaking people on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. Bhutto is charged with "acting in a manner prejudicial to security." Under "state of emergency" laws imposed during the India-Pakistan war of 1965 and never repealed, he can be held indefinitely without trial. He is also under indictment on a corruption charge of using state-subsidized tractors on his personal land, a charge he vigorously denies.
Martyr's Appeal. With either charge, President Ayub can effectively neutralize Bhutto in next year's presidential vote by keeping him in jail, but only at the price of being accused of rigging the election—and of giving Bhutto a political boost. With the martyr's appeal that a long stint behind bars may provide, Bhutto will perhaps stand a better chance of winning Pakistan's opposition parties to his side. For the long run, Bhutto, who mixes militant nationalism with his socialism, seems in a promising position. At 40, his popularity is rising, while that of Ayub, who is 61, is on the wane.