Rights group rules out possibility of free and fair elections

Islamabad: 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 favour, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

"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.

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.

He has said he acted to ramp up the fight against the spread of Islamist militancy and save the country from an alleged conspiracy, involving some members of the judiciary, to derail Pakistan's return to democracy.

Opponents claim he moved solely to strengthen his grip on power; the Supreme Court had been about to rule on the legitimacy of his re-election in October by a Parliament stacked with his supporters.

Despite the government's insistence that only three of the people rounded up after the emergency was imposed November 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.

The US Embassy in Islamabad issued a warning for American citizens to be careful in Pakistan, given the confluence of Eid Al Adha and Christmas holidays with the poll campaign.