3,000 freed in Pakistan as journalists are arrested

More than 3,000 people jailed in Pakistan under emergency rule have been released in recent days, the Interior Ministry said today.

It is the latest sign that embattled president General Pervez Musharraf, who left for a visit to Saudi Arabia today, is rolling back some of the harsher measures he has taken against his opponents.

But witnesses said about 150 journalists were detained today after clashing with Pakistani police.

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema put the exact figure of those freed in recent days at 3,416 – including lawyers and political activists – and said more than 2,000 people remained jailed.

He said: “The process has started. More are being released today.”

He said those still in detention “would be freed soon”, though he said the cases of some facing criminal charges could take longer.

Gen Musharraf has been rolling back some of his most unpopular steps in recent days. He has been under immense pressure from Washington to free opposition leaders, end media restrictions and step down as head of the armed forces.

The releases came hours after judges hand-picked by Gen Musharraf quashed legal challenges to his disputed re-election as president.

But many high-ranking party activists and leaders, such as former cricket star Imran Khan, remain in prison. Mr Khan began a hunger strike yesterday to protest against emergency rule.

And while some people are being let out of jail, others were being put in.

A group of journalists were surrounded by police at the press club in the southern city of Karachi. Police used vans to take about 150 journalists away in groups.

Police had pushed the reporters back into the press club after breaking up a protest with batons.

They prevented about 300 journalists from marching toward the governor’s house, and used batons to beat those who tried to cross a police cordon.

The demonstrators chanted slogans such as “We want freedom!”.

Witnesses said at least two demonstrators suffered head injuries.

Police detained 23 journalists after they tried to hold a rally in the southern city of Hyderabad .

Several leaders of Pakistan’s lawyers’ associations, which have been at the forefront of protests against Gen Musharraf for months, vowed on their release from jail that they would continue their campaign against the emergency and for the restoration of ousted judges.

Hafiz Lakho, a senior lawyer in Karachi, said: “We are chalking out strategy for the next phase ... The lawyers community will not give up.”

In the southern province of Sindh, authorities released 300 people, including lawyers, human rights activists and supporters of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, one of Gen Musharraf’s chief rivals.

Ms Bhutto was released from a second stint under house arrest late last week, as was prominent human rights activist Asma Jehangir.

Senior provincial official Ghulam Mohammed Mohtarem said of the Sindh releases: “All the political workers and lawyers who were detained ... are being released.

“We had instructions from the chief minister to release these people.”

He added that others remain in jail in the province, including 11 people charged with sedition since emergency rule was imposed on November 3.

In neighbouring Baluchistan, 49 lawyers and six political activists were set free. Three other lawyers remain in custody.

Gen Musharraf says the emergency is needed to combat increasingly powerful Islamic militants, but opponents note most of those jailed have been moderates.

They say the general suspended the constitution solely to preserve his grip on power by preventing the then-Supreme Court from invalidating his recent re-election as president.

When the reconstituted Supreme Court threw out legal challenges to Gen Musharraf’s re-election on Monday, critics denounced the decision as illegitimate and insisted that he relinquish power to end the country’s political turmoil.

The ruling did pave the way for Gen Musharraf to fulfill a promise to quit as army chief and rule as a civilian president, perhaps by the end of the month. Some opposition leaders and analysts said the ruling could prompt the government to ease the emergency.

Ahsan Iqbal, leader of one of Pakistan’s two main opposition parties, said: “The whole country was subject to martial law only to get this decision.

“Now he has got his decision at gunpoint.”

Gen Musharraf arrived in the Saudi capital of Riaydh today for talks with King Abdullah about the political crisis.

He frequently visits Saudi Arabia, a close ally that is also home to one of his staunchest opponents – former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whom the general toppled in a bloodless 1999 coup.

The two have no plans to meet.

The Bush administration has put intense pressure on Gen Musharraf to lift emergency rule as swiftly as possible, saying that the elections cannot be fair unless he frees opponents, lifts media curbs and lets candidates campaign freely.

The US has urged opposition parties to restart a dialogue of reconciliation with the government that yielded an amnesty for Ms Bhutto from corruption charges last month, allowing her to return from exile.

Ms Bhutto, a former prime minister who also favours ties with the US, said yesterday that she had no plans to revive power-sharing negotiations with Gen Musharraf.

The talks broke down after police put her under house arrest to stop her leading rallies against the general’s suspension of the constitution.

Ms Bhutto was huddled with other leaders of her party today to discuss whether it could take part in elections if the emergency is not lifted.