Human Rights Watch says Free, Fair elections impossible

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: It will be "impossible" for Pakistan to hold free and fair parliamentary elections next month because President Pervez Musharraf has tilted the political playing field so far in his favor, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

"A genuine election campaign is impossible when the media remains muzzled, leaders of civil society remain under arrest, and the legitimate judiciary of the country has been deposed and replaced by hand-picked supporters of the government," said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher at the New York-based group.

Last Saturday, Musharraf lifted a six-week state of emergency during which he purged the Supreme Court of independent-mind judges, arrested hundreds of opposition figures and reined in the independent media, entrenching the crackdown with unilateral constitutional amendments.

Despite the government's insistence that only three of the people rounded up after the emergency was imposed Nov. 3 remain in custody, Human Rights Watch claimed scores of lawyers, judges and other government critics are still in detention. The government denies the deposed judges are under house arrest, even though large security contingents are posted outside their homes.

@ International Herald Tribune