Pakistan: Opposition leader freed from prison

Senior Pakistani opposition leader Javed Hashmi was released from prison today and received a rapturous welcome from hundreds of chanting, flag-waving supporters, a day after the Supreme Court granted him bail.

Hashmi, the acting president of the party of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was sentenced four years ago to 23 years in prison for treason and inciting an army mutiny against military President General Pervez Musharraf.

Rights and opposition groups criticised the charges as politically motivated. The Supreme Court agreed to grant him bail of 50,000 rupees while it considers his application for the case to be reviewed.

Members of the Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N had gathered outside the Kotlakhpat prison in Lahore throughout today, and a party atmosphere developed with drummers and horn-players.

The crowd had swelled to many hundreds by the time Hashmi emerged. They rushed the door of the prison, waving green-coloured flags of Sharifs’ party and chanting: “Brave man, Hashmi, Hashmi!”

Hashmi, draped in a flower garland, climbed on to the front of a four-wheel drive vehicle to lead a procession through the streets of Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city and its cultural capital, to a shrine. He was expected to return to the capital, Islamabad, on Monday.

Hashmi’s release strengthens the hand of pro-democracy forces who now pose a serious challenge to a weakened Musharraf, and demonstrates the growing clout of the recently reinstated chief justice as Pakistan heads toward crucial elections and Musharraf seeks a new five-year term.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry – who was suspended by Musharraf in March but then cleared of charges of misconduct amid a groundswell of opposition to military rule – headed the three-judge panel that ordered Hashmi’s release.

Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and promised to restore democracy, has been badly weakened by his failed attempt to oust Chaudhry. He also faces a tide of Islamic militant violence and US demands for tougher action against al-Qaida sanctuaries along the Afghan border.

“The court is reasserting its independence and trying to bring the rule of law,” said political analyst Talat Masood. “You can see President Musharraf’s power is diminishing. They (the government) will have to play by the rules now and not by whims.”

Hashmi was sentenced in a closed court after circulating a letter, supposedly from Pakistani soldiers, criticising Musharraf for making Pakistan a US ally in its war on terror in Afghanistan, and praising parliament for opposing a US request for Pakistan to send troops to Iraq.

The letter was written on military stationery, but was unsigned. The government says it was forged.

The ruling on Hashmi could further encourage Sharif to attempt a return to Pakistan from exile in Saudi Arabia.

Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, appealed on Thursday to the Supreme Court to be allowed to return to contest parliamentary elections due later this year.

The court is yet to begin hearing the appeal, but Musharraf has said he would block attempts by the two brothers to return. Musharraf has said the two brothers were allowed to go into exile in Saudi Arabia as part of a deal in which they pledged not to return home within 10 years. Sharif has denied making any deal.