Slamming the Pakistan government for the continued detention of sacked judges and re-arrests of lawyers, a leading human rights body has charged that the 'systematic destruction of legal institutions in that country has seriously compromised the February 18 polls there'.
 
"Days before Pakistan goes to the polls, its lawful Chief Justice (Iftikhar M Chaudhry) and his children remain under illegal house arrest, as do many lawyers who would likely challenge election-rigging in the courts," Brad Adams, Asia director of the Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
 
The rights group pointed out that leaders of the lawyers' movement, including Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan, retired Justice Tariq Mehmood, and former Bar Council Vice Chairman Ali Ahmed Kurd, were detained under the colonial-era Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. They remain under house arrest.
 
"The Pakistani Constitution prohibits detention under MPO for more than 90 days. The government released them on January 31 on expiry of that period, but arbitrarily re-arrested them 48 hours later under a fresh MPO order," it noted.
 
"The re-arrest of these lawyers is a disgrace and makes it clear that Musharraf is determined to ensure that many of his fiercest critics are locked up before the election," Adams said, adding that the Pakistan President "must release the lawyers and judges immediately."
 
The Human Rights Watch noted that a repressive political environment thwarts any possibility that elections could be free or fair. "The government has warned it will not tolerate the politics of agitation," said Adams. "Such restrictions are contrary to human rights law at the best of times, and absolutely unacceptable in the middle of an election."
 
"A real election campaign is impossible when a country's military government deposes the legitimate judiciary, replaces lawful judges with its hand-picked supporters, and keeps its chief critics under arrest," he maintained.