Pakistan releases militants from jail

Dozens of suspected Islamic militants have been released from prison without trial in Pakistan in a direct challenge to President Musharraf by the countrys judiciary.

Islamabad, Aug.23 : Dozens of suspected Islamic militants have been released from prison without trial in Pakistan in a direct challenge to President Musharraf by the country's judiciary.

Most had been seized by the notorious Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and held, without being charged, for periods of up to three years.

According to The Times, a number of critics of the Musharraf regime and activists demanding autonomy in Balochistan, were also released on the orders of the country's Supreme Court.

The release was welcomed by human rights groups who have campaigned on behalf of hundreds of people who have gone missing in Pakistan since 2001 and the al-Qaeda attacks in the US.

Late last year Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the Chief Justice, ordered the intelligence service to charge or release all those who had been detained.

The most prominent figure to be released this week was Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, whose arrest in Lahore in 2004 was seen as a breakthrough by Pakistan's intelligence service. Khan had reportedly planned the terrorist attacks in Britain and the US. He was described as a crucial link between Osama bin Laden's inner circle, holed up in mountainous terrain in Pakistan's lawless tribal region, and al-Qaeda's operatives in Britain and other parts of the world.

Information obtained from Khan is believed to have led to the arrest of Dhiren Bharot, also known as Eassa al Hindi, the head of an al-Qaeda cell in London and nine others.

Aleem Nasir, a German national of Pakistani origin, was also released. He was detained by the ISI earlier this year at Lahore airport as he prepared to board a flight home. He was never charged. Hafiz Basit, 26, was freed after three years in illegal detention. He was picked up by the ISI from his house in Faisalabad in 2004. The Pakistani authorities never acknowledged his arrest.

In June Saud Memon, who was accused of involvement in the murder of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, was found dumped outside his home in Karachi a day before the Supreme Court was to hear his case. He died a week later.

ANI