Former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Hamid Gul was arrested on Sunday in the continuing crackdown by the government in the emergency-ruled Pakistan.
Gul was taken into custody by policemen who pushed him into a van and whisked him away, Geo TV reported.
"It is not an emergency, it's martial law. One man has put the country at stake to save his rule," the outspoken former spy chief said before he was taken away by the police from a public gathering.
Gul's arrest came amid a crackdown by the government of President Pervez Musharraf on opposition leaders, senior lawyers and rights activists following the imposition of emergency on Saturday. It was not immediately known why Gul had been arrested.