It has begun - India, US call and pray for peace in Pakistan

Police have arrested hundreds of lawyers, political workers and members of civil society by launching a crack down across the country.

Those who have been arrested in Karachi include President of Sindh High Court Bar, Rasheed A. Rizvi, former President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Munir A. Malik, JI leader Dr. Mairaj-ul-Huda Siddiqui, Sunni Tehreek leader Shahid Ghauri and Muslim League leader Captain (Retd.) Haleem Siddiqui.

Police also manhandled the women participants of the long march and took them into custody.

Islamabad: Authorities arrested at least 60 more political activists as they extended a nationwide crackdown on Thursday aimed at thwarting plans to head to Pakistan's capital from several cities and surround the country's parliament.

The arrests took place in the southern city of Karachi overnight and outside the high court building on Thursday morning, where scuffles briefly broke out between police and protesters, witnesses and city police chief Waseem Ahmad said.

Pakistan's largest opposition party and two other smaller groupings have joined forces with lawyers demanding an independent judiciary in a protest movement that threatens to weaken the year-old elected government, which the US is counting on to battle Taliban and al-Qaida militants operating in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.