Pakistan’s opposition called on General Pervez Musharraf to lift a state of emergency, saying elections would be a sham unless citizens’ rights were fully restored.

Hundreds of opponents of Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf jailed since the weekend were ordered to be released today by the country’s chief justice.

Police have detained more than 500 activists from opposition political parties ahead of what organisers predict will be the biggest rally yet in support of Pakistan’s ousted chief justice.

A top Pakistani Islamic group today criticised the dismissal by a Danish court of a defamation lawsuit against a newspaper that published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed that sparked mass protests across the Muslim world this year.