ISLAMABAD—A Pakistani lawyer who spearheaded opposition to President Pervez Musharraf was temporarily released from detention for a Muslim holiday on Thursday and vowed to press ahead with his campaign.
Aitzaz Ahsan, a former member of the National Assembly for Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, was detained under emergency powers that Musharraf invoked on Nov. 3.
A former cabinet minister, Ahsan was held at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for nearly three weeks before being transferred to house arrest at his home in the eastern city of Lahore.
"All that I've been told is the siege of my house is being lifted for three days to enable me to perform the duties and obligations of Eid," Ahsan told Reuters by telephone, referring to the Eid al-Adha holiday that began from Thursday.
The release comes in the run-up to Jan. 8 elections, with Musharraf under international pressure to ensure they are free and fair. Diplomats say the detention of Ahsan and other judges and lawyers have been harming the government's image.
Ahsan rose to prominence this year when he acted as chief counsel for Iftikhar Chaudhry, the Supreme Court chief justice whom Musharraf tried to sack in March.
Chaudhry's suspension whipped up a campaign against Musharraf by lawyers and opposition activists.
That culminated in Musharraf's declaration of an emergency, when Chaudhry and dozens of other judges seen as hostile to then army chief Musharraf's October re-election by legislators were purged. Chaudhry and several other judges remain under house arrest.
Ahsan said he and other lawyers were unwavering in their demand to see the dismissed judges reinstated.
"The aims are the same, there's no change in those. We seek the restoration of the judges as on Nov. 2," he said.
"We are a totally peaceful non-violent movement which seeks a liberal, tolerant democratic and plural polity and society in Pakistan in which the constitution is fully applicable, the judiciary is independent and parliament is sovereign."
Vote Rigged
Ahsan said he wanted to meet colleagues over the next three days to plan out their strategy.
"I will be consulting my colleagues, I will be visiting the deposed judges and we have to decide on the future course of action, but we are not giving up," he said.
He said he wanted to travel around the country meeting lawyers as part of his campaign, as he and many colleagues did when pressing for Chaudhry's reinstatement.
"En route, if the people come out to welcome the lawyers and the judges we will, of course, be very happy."
Ahsan was allowed out of detention briefly last month to file nomination papers for the parliamentary elections, but he later withdrew his papers, even though his party chief, former prime minister Bhutto, is taking her party into the election.
Bhutto, although complaining of government rigging, said a boycott would only leave the field open to Musharraf's allies.
But Ahsan said fair elections were impossible under the prevailing constitutional and legal framework, with a judiciary made up of judges hand-picked by Musharraf.
When Musharraf lifted the emergency last weekend he introduced amendments giving legal protection to his actions during the emergency, including the appointment of new judges.
"In these circumstances, in this legal and constitutional environment, there is no question of a fair election. The process is rigged from point one," he said.
"Our position will be vindicated on Jan. 8."
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