PAKISTANI activists have called for international solidarity after the arrest of a veteran trade union leader for organising a demonstration against the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign (PTUDC) general secretary Qamar Uz Zaman Khan was detained on Saturday after a protest in Sadiqabad, central Pakistan.

He is also leader of the local Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), whose former leader Benazir Bhutto was shot dead in 2007 with responsibility claimed by al-Qaida.

The protest was called against the federal budget, which activists claim had its conditions dictated by the IMF.

Pakistan’s media accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government of Prime Minister Imran Khan of capitulating to the IMF by appointing the governor of the country’s state bank and the adviser for its ministry of finance on recommendations by the IMF.

The budget will hit the poorest people in the country hardest, PTUDC warned, with the inclusion of a raft of new taxes recommended by the IMF.

PDTUC said the arrest of Qamar Uz Zaman Khan “is the latest manifestation of growing repression to stifle any criticism of the government.”

It warned that his family and trade unionists feared he had “gone missing.”

“In Pakistan, hundreds of activists have been detained incommunicado without following legal procedures. Many such activists are feared dead. In local parlance, such illegally detained persons are termed as ‘missing persons’,” a PDTUC statement said.

Trade union activists and workers gathered outside a police station demanding information about the whereabouts of the union leader. Police confirmed his arrest on grounds of “creating a law and disorder situation.”

PDTUC called for a “solidarity campaign” to demand his release from what it warns are “baseless charges” and for the “fake case” against him to be dropped.