Pakistan should immediately release hundreds of opposition activists, rounded up in a crackdown ahead of the planned return of former premier Nawaz Sharif, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday.
The New York-based organisation said that President Pervez Musharraf should not seek to undermine Pakistan's legal system by having Sharif himself locked up on Monday, when he is expected to arrive in Islamabad. "General Musharraf is attempting to bolster his increasingly shaky military-backed government by repackaging himself as a democrat," said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"But rights-respecting leaders don't lock up hundreds of people who merely want to participate in their country's political process." Sharif's Pakistan Muslim PML-N says that around 2,000 of its supporters have been locked up during the past week, including hundreds overnight.
"The government should release arbitrarily detained opposition activists immediately and allow them to peacefully welcome Nawaz Sharif freely and without threat of violence," said Hasan.
The Human Rights Watch said that in an August judgement overturning Nawaz Sharif's exile, the Supreme Court had ordered the authorities not to impede the ex-PM's return to the country.
"If Musharraf is serious about human rights, the rule of law and a return to democracy, he needs to allow due process and respect independent court decisions," said Hasan.
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