Pakistani opposition lawyer freed

Lahore: A Pakistani lawyer who led opposition to President Pervez Musharraf has been released after nearly three months of detention, his wife said on Friday.

Aitzaz Ahsan, a former member of parliament, was detained under emergency powers that Musharraf invoked on November 3.

"He was released last night," Ahsan's wife, Bushra, said in Lahore. "He's very upbeat about life. He's very happy. He has gone to Lahore High Court to address the bar."

Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, was held at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for nearly three weeks before being transferred to house arrest in Lahore.

Several other judges, including chief counsel Iftikhar Chaudhry, who were seen as hostile to Musharraf's government, remain under house arrest.