Thousands Of Pakistani Dissidents Freed
The government freed more jailed political activists Wednesday and a senior official said President Gen. Pervez Musharraf might step down as army chief this weekend, moves that could blunt opposition threats to boycott parliamentary elections.
It remained unclear, however, when Musharraf might lift a state of emergency that has worsened Pakistan's political turmoil just as the government confronts rising Islamic militancy.
The United States and other Western nations are pressuring him to end emergency rule if he hopes to repair his bruised credentials as a democrat and a reliable ally in the fight against international terrorism.
Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum told The Associated Press that Musharraf would quickly fulfill his promise to quit his army post and be sworn in for a new five-year presidential term as a civilian.
"It may happen on Saturday ... I know the president, and he will honor his commitment," Qayyum said.
Meeting another key demand of domestic critics, Washington and the European Union, authorities said they have now freed most of the thousands of activists rounded up since Musharraf suspended the constitution and decreed emergency powers Nov. 3.
Law Minister Afzal Hayder announced on state television that the government had released 5,634 lawyers and political party members. He said 623 people remained in custody, but that they would be let go soon.
But CBS News sources say that thousands, not hundreds, are still under arrest, and more lawyers, journalists and human rights workers are being detained daily, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar.
The President of Supreme Court Bar Association, lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, is still missing. He was arrested by police as he spoke at a press conference.
"The police came in and they said, 'Sorry it's over, we have to pick you up,'" said Ashan's wife, Bushra.
"There is no democracy in the country and President Bush knows it better than we do," she added
Those freed included Imran Khan, a former cricket star who has become a firebrand in the opposition to Musharraf's rule. Khan said he would continue a hunger strike begun in custody and boycott the election in hopes of forcing Musharraf to give up all power."
"Musharraf is staging a drama to deceive America and the West whom he scared that without him the nuclear bomb will get into extremist hands," Khan told reporters.
Some people have voiced concerns that the crisis could undermine the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, but the top U.S. military officer said this week that there were no signs of that.
Also freed was Javed Hashmi, acting president of the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Musharraf's most dogged foe. In a phone interview with the AP, Hashmi called for opposition parties to boycott the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections to avoid giving credibility to Musharraf.
Bhutto's party welcomed the releases of jailed activists but it charged that thousands more of its supporters were still in custody and said Musharraf could not be trusted.
Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said it was too soon for the party to express any opinion on the possibility Musharraf might give up his powerful post as chief of the army.
"President Musharraf has made such promises before the nation and the international community in the past as well, and we will comment when he actually steps down as the army chief," Babar said.
Washington has been hoping for a rapprochement between Bhutto and Musharraf, who U.S. officials call a key ally in confronting the Taliban and al Qaeda. An alliance with her secular party would lend him badly needed democratic legitimacy.
Both Bhutto and Musharraf are calling for moderate political forces to reconcile and revitalize Pakistan's campaign against Islamic militants who have gained strength in the restive tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte urged both of them to return to that agenda during his visit last weekend.
Bhutto, however, has talked recently of joining forces with Sharif to drive Musharraf from power if emergency rule is not swiftly ended.
But Sharif said that he had failed to convince her in a telephone conversation Wednesday to join him in the drastic step of boycotting the election.
"It's a question of do we have to now be part of this illegal process that Gen. Musharraf has started?" Sharif said in an interview from exile in Saudi Arabia. "Benazir Bhutto has to first make up her mind ... I could not persuade her for the time being."
Sharif predicted Saudi authorities would soon let him leave and said they backed his plans to go home.
"They feel very strongly that I have a duty to perform in Pakistan and a role to play," Sharif said by telephone from the Red Sea town of Jiddah.
Officials said Tuesday that the Saudis tried in vain to arrange a meeting between Musharraf and Sharif during a visit to the kingdom by the Pakistani president.
Musharraf has vowed to keep Sharif sidelined until after the election, and there was no public indication he might have changed his position after talking with Saudi leaders Tuesday.
A Musharraf aide confirmed that Saudi leaders thought Sharif should be allowed to compete in the elections but the president remained opposed. Musharraf's spokesman was not available for comment Wednesday.
Musharraf has designated a close ally, the military's current deputy commander, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, to replace him as chief of staff of the army.
Najam Sethi, editor of the Pakistani newspaper Daily Times, said that even if Musharraf gives up uniform he will retain considerable clout because he will be the mediator between the civilian government and the army.
"Pervez Musharraf is the army's candidate for the presidency," Sethi said.
The editor expressed skepticism that Bhutto would boycott the elections, because that could lead to gains by Islamic parties sympathetic to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
"If Ms. Bhutto doesn't contest the elections and sits with Nawaz Sharif, whereas the mullahs go ahead and participate, that could lead to a very interesting situation," Sethi said.
The last legal hurdle for Musharraf's new presidential term is expected to be lifted Thursday by the Supreme Court, which now seats his loyalists after the chief justice and other judges were removed under emergency rule. The Election Commission could then certify his victory in a disputed presidential election by legislators in October.
Despite the conciliatory moves from the government, policemen clubbed dozens of journalists Wednesday during street protests in Faisalabad and Quetta against media restrictions imposed by emergency rule. The protesters chanted "Musharraf, we do not accept your laws" and "Long live the freedom of journalism."
Musharraf justified emergency rule by citing the escalating danger posed by Islamic extremists. On Wednesday, the army reported killing some 65 militants in a northern valley, bringing to more than 200 the number of fighters slain there in a week. The militants, who allegedly include foreign fighters arriving from Afghanistan, dispute the figures.