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(New York) - The Pakistan government should end its crackdown against the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and release hundreds of activists arbitrarily arrested in the run up to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s return to the country, Human Rights Watch said today.

Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) [PML(N)] supporters are being arrested to prevent them from greeting Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif when they return to Pakistan on September 10, ending seven years of exile. Nawaz Sharif’s government was overthrown in a military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999. The Sharif brothers are expected to land in the capital Islamabad and have announced plans to lead a procession to the central city of Lahore, capital of Punjab province.

“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.”

The activists have been arrested under various provisions of the Maintenance of Public Order Act, the Anti-Terrorism Act or simply detained without charge.

The PML(N) alleges that hundreds of party activists have been arrested since Sharif announced the date of his return to the country. While the exact number of those arrested remains unverifiable, arrests have been widespread across Punjab province, the party’s stronghold.

“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.

On August 23, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that the Sharifs “have an inalienable right to enter and remain in country, as citizens of Pakistan” under article 15 of the Pakistani constitution. “Their entry into the country shall not be restrained, hampered or obstructed by federal or provincial government agencies, in any manner,” a seven-member bench of the court said in a unanimous decision.

The Pakistani government has maintained that the Supreme Court decision notwithstanding, the Sharifs should honor the terms of an exile deal brokered by Saudi Arabia in 2001, under which the Sharifs cannot return to Pakistan for another three years.

The government has reopened corruption cases against Nawaz Sharif and has warned that he faces arrest upon arrival. Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore has ordered the arrest of his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif on murder charges dating back to 1998. The charges pending against the Sharifs are for bailable offenses under Pakistani law.

“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. “It is for the courts to decide whether the Sharifs will be imprisoned or remain free. Though Musharraf has appointed himself both president and head of the army, neither job entitles him to flout a court decision.”

Human Rights Watch called upon Musharraf’s international backers, particularly the United States, to urge the Pakistani government to desist from persecuting political opponents, and to allow them a level playing field in the run-up to parliamentary elections later this year or early in 2008.

“The US should make it clear to Musharraf that ignoring his repression of political opponents in exchange for cooperation in the ‘war on terror’ is no longer acceptable,” said Hasan. “For too long, the US turned a blind eye to these kinds of abuses, but crackdowns on free speech are no longer accepted in Pakistan’s courts or in its streets.”

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