Musharraf Regime Seeks Commonwealth Amnesty

Pakistan today asked Britain and other Commonwealth member countries to delay a decision on a threatened suspension from the organization, which could take place within days.

The request came in a telephone call from Pakistan's caretaker prime minister, Mohammedmian Soomro, to Gordon Brown, Mohammed Sadiq, a Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman, said.

Sadiq said Soomro asked for a "short postponement" and "expressed concern that any precipitate decision on Pakistan's participation in the Commonwealth would be unfortunate". He also urged the Commonwealth to send a delegation to Pakistan.

Britain and other Commonwealth members last week threatened to expel Pakistan at a meeting of foreign ministers - which begins in Uganda tomorrow - unless the emergency rule was lifted and Musharraf quit as the army chief.

Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth when Musharraf seized power in October 1999. The country was restored to full membership in May 2004.

In 2005, the Commonwealth criticized Musharraf for staying as both head of the army and the head of state. It said that until the two offices were separated, the process of democratization in Pakistan was at risk of being thrown into reverse.

Musharraf is expected to quit the army at the end of the week once the new supreme court dismisses all challenges to his October re-election victory.

The attorney general, Malik Mohammed Qayyum, told the Associated Press that Musharraf would quickly quit his army post and be sworn in for a new five-year term.

"It may happen on Saturday," he said. "I know the president, and he will honour his commitment."

The general replaced the supreme court with his supporters when he declared emergency rule. In doing so, he pre-empted the possibility that the old court might declare his election invalid because he was head of the military at the time.

The court this week dismissed the main challenges. It met again today to consider whether emergency rule was legal, but adjourned without making a decision.

Prior to Musharraf's expected decision to step down as the head of the army, the government released more political opponents, including Imran Khan, who had been on hunger strike.

The law minister, Afzal Hayder, said the government had freed 5,634 political activists and anti-government lawyers.

"Now 623 people are in the government's custody," Hayder said on state television. He added that the authorities had been ordered to release them.

The government has named January 8 as the date for parliamentary elections, but the opposition has not decided whether to boycott the vote unless emergency rule is lifted.

Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister who leads the Pakistan People's party, said yesterday that it would be a "good sign" if Musharraf quit his army post and ruled as a civilian president.

Bhutto avoided criticizing him directly, and said her party needed a few more days to decide whether to boycott the elections.

A senior leader of a powerful religious alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or MMA, said his party was inclined to participate in the January vote, although he also called on Musharraf to lift the emergency rule.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman's comments were reported in the English-language Daily Times newspaper and the Urdu-language Jang newspaper.

Ameer-ul Azim, an MMA spokesman, told the press no decision had been made on whether to participate in the vote.

Musharraf flew back to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia early today after meeting King Abdullah. Saudi officials said there were efforts to arrange a meeting between Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif, who was deposed as the Pakistani prime minister by the general's 1999 coup.

A senior member of Sharif's party said the ousted leader had refused to meet the general. "He followed his commitment in letter and spirit of not holding negotiation with a military dictator," the chairman, Raja Zafarul Haq, said.

Haq declined to say whether his party would boycott the vote, saying the opposition should make a collective decision.

"If there is a decision to participate in the elections, all parties should participate. Otherwise, all parties should boycott," he added.