A major crackdown was launched on bank loan defaulters on November 17 with the arrest of big defaulters, including prominent politicians and industrialists, official sources said.

Former federal minister Anwar Saifullah, former Chairman of Pakistan International Airlines Air Marshal Wiqar Azim and renowned industrialist Asif Sehgal and some leaders of the Pakistan People's Party were among those arrested Wednesday.

The crackdown started as a one-month deadline expired on November 16 and raids are being conducted across the country to nab those big defaulters who had failed to clear their outstanding loans by zero hour Wednesday, the sources said.

The drive, which may take months to conclude, is the first of its kind in Pakistan and is being carried out by the army and civilian agencies jointly and backed up by intelligence organizations, according to the sources.

Earlier, a top-level meeting attended by Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider and Director General of Federal Investigation Agency Malik Asif Hayat decided to show no leniency toward any loan defaulters during what the officials called an unprecedented operation.

Shortly after assuming the office of the supreme executive last month, Pakistan's Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharraf urged loan defaulters to pay their dues by November 16. Otherwise they will face severe punishment, he warned.

Official figures indicate that the amount of non-performing loans in Pakistan had risen to 250 billion rupees (4.8 billion US dollars) in 1998 from 80 billion rupees (1.5 billion dollars) in 1993.

The Ittefaq Group owned by deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is the No. 1 defaulter and owes the banks 3 billion rupees (58 million dollars), according to official records.