By DPA
Islamabad : Pakistan has released more than 3,400 political detainees who were being held under the state of emergency, the interior ministry said Tuesday.
The move was part of an ongoing process to ease the current crisis and reflected on an improvement in the law and order situation in the country, ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said here.
Over 2,000 detainees, including members of the opposition and lawyers, would be released soon, Cheema said.
Opposition parties claim about 15,000 of their supporters were arrested since President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule Nov 3.
The release of the prisoners precedes General Musharraf’s commencement of a new term as a civilian president, which, according to Pakistan’s Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum, will take place at the weekend, Pakistan’s Daily Times newspaper reported Tuesday.
Musharraf, a key US ally in the region, is under intense pressure at home and abroad to step down as army chief before he is sworn in for another five years.
There is speculation that he will do so after the Supreme Court’s anticipated dismissal Thursday of a final petition challenging the legitimacy of his disputed Oct 6 re-election.