HARARE, Zimbabwe — President Mugabe’s regime announced plans yesterday that would allow it to retake control of parliament from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Under new rules, anyone arrested for political violence would be denied bail, a move that could be used to detain members of parliament from the MDC for extended periods.

The deputy attorney-general, Johannes Tomana, told the state Herald newspaper: “We have made it a point that those arrested are locked up right up to trial. It does not matter who commits the offence. We are doing this without fear or favor.”

In elections in March, the MDC ended the ruling Zanu-PF party’s stranglehold on parliament, which it had held for 28 years. However, the regime’s plan would ensure that the Mr. Mugabe regime could “roll back” the MDC’s small majority.

A Pretoria-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, Sydney Masamvu, predicted that opposition politicians would be “arrested on spurious grounds of inciting violence.”

“They will pick up a number of MPs, lock them up and forget about them,” he said. “It’s a multi-pronged approach Zanu-PF is employing to rob the MDC of its parliamentary majority.”

Mr. Mugabe’s militia has also found another target — a pensioners’ club in Harare it claims is a “secret group of Rhodesian army officers” threatening to overthrow the regime. The Men of Tin Hats club is for veterans of the world wars — many in their 80s. It was raided by police and thugs who claimed to be “war veterans” themselves.

The Herald newspaper quoted Inspector James Sabau as saying that they were investigating “secret meetings” linked to alleged political violence by the MDC.

“The meetings, held under the cover of darkness and secrecy, come in the wake of several unsolved violence cases that have bewildered security agents in the country,” the Herald reported.

Members of the Moths club said food was stolen and antique guns and other war memorabilia were confiscated.

“Are we such a dangerous lot?” said Lloyd Fulton, 83, who last saw action in 1945 with the South African Sixth Division in Italy.

Another member, Alan Armour, 80, said: “I read the Herald and smiled. This is because of the election at the end of the month.”

More than 60 opposition members and supporters have been killed since the election but the authorities have repeatedly blamed the MDC for the turmoil.