PAKISTAN:Pakistan's chief justice ordered the release of hundreds of opposition activists yesterday as President Pervez Musharraf pushed ahead with controversial plans for re-election in eight days' time.
Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry ordered officials to free the activists, mostly from Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party, whom the police had been rounding up since the weekend. The interior minister said that 200 people were in custody; the opposition put the figure in the thousands.
The judge, who won a historic court victory over Gen Musharraf in July, also demanded an explanation for a security crackdown across the capital, Islamabad. Hundreds of riot police flooded on to the streets at dawn and main roads were blocked to prevent expected protests.
The deputy information minister, Tariq Azim, said that the government would comply with the judge's orders. But the crackdown had already served its purpose - hours earlier Musharraf supporters had lodged his nomination papers for re-election on October 6th .
The detentions had embarrassed the US, one of Gen Musharraf's key allies. The US embassy termed the arrests "extremely disturbing and confusing" and called for the release of the detainees.
However, the president may have to cross his greatest hurdle today, when the supreme court is expected to rule on a major challenge by opposition parties, who claim that Gen Musharraf's re-election bid is illegal and unconstitutional.
Analysts say that if Gen Musharraf loses the court battle he may resort to emergency rule or impose martial law. He has tried to assuage concerns by promising to resign from the army - but only if he is re-elected.
Critics say that Gen Musharraf is using his military uniform to force his way back into power through a vote of dubious validity. Pakistan's presidents are chosen by an electoral college composed of national and provincial assemblies, but the parliament was elected in a rigged poll in 2002 and its term of office expires in six weeks' time.
"Why can he not simply contest the election on the basis of his popularity? Is it an admission that nobody would elect him unless he carries a gun in his hand?" lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan told the supreme court.
Opposition attempts to scupper Gen Musharraf are split because the Pakistan People's Party of Benazir Bhutto is negotiating a power-sharing deal.
The court may opt for a compromise by allowing Gen Musharraf to contest the election, but only after giving up his army uniform. "Much depends on tomorrow's judgment," said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political analyst. "But even if Musharraf gets away with the election, the crisis will continue."