Pakistan Arrests Imran Khan After Escape

Pakistani police today arrested Imran Khan, the former cricket star turned opposition politician, Bloomberg reports. Khan was initially detained in his house in Lahore, but he escaped to rally students against Pervez Musharraf, whom he calls "the dictator." Khan's arrest comes as a blow to attempts by Benazir Bhutto, who's still under house arrest, to unify opposition to Musharraf as the emergency enters its 11th day.

As the Pakistani government continues to dismiss international criticism—a recent Foreign Ministry communiqué defended it as a bulwark against "institutional breakdown"—the US is dispatching former UN ambassador John Negroponte to urge an end to emergency rule. Most opposition parties, including Bhutto's, seem unlikely to contest elections in January if the emergency continues. (More Pakistan stories.)