ISLAMABAD/LAHORE, 3 March 2008 — Pakistani authorities yesterday released a prominent firebrand lawyer who has been under house arrest since President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in November, officials said.

The government has lifted a security cordon and withdrawn police deployed around the house of Aitzaz Ahsan in the eastern city of Lahore, city police chief Malik Iqbal said.

Immediately upon his release, Ahsan, who is the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, renewed demands for the reinstatement of all the judges fired by Musharraf. “I demand all 63 judges be reinstated,” he told a rally staged by about 300 lawyers.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission officially notified results of the elections, and party officials said Musharraf could convene the Parliament this month.

The notification of the 258 winning candidates was issued on Saturday, Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Dilshad told reporters.

Elections were held for 268 seats. The results in 10 constituencies have been withheld after candidates, disputing the outcomes, successfully petitioned the courts for a delay. Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) emerged as the leading party with 89 seats while Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N bagged 67 and the nationalist Awami National Party mustered 10.

PPP Wins JUI Support

The Pakistan People’s Party has won the support of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam after its Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari had a meeting with JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

The new development has boosted the strength of the coalition in the lower house of Parliament. The four parties — PPP, PML(N), ANP and JUI — will now have more than two-thirds majority in the lower house of Parliament.

After the meeting, Fazlur Rehman told reporters in Islamabad, “We have given our consent to the PPP to become a part of the national consensus government at the center as well as in provinces.”

Sources said more meetings are in the cards to finalize Cabinet slots that would be given to the JUI-F in the federal Cabinet.

“There were no major differences on the issue of a national consensus government. We presented our priorities that were accepted by Zardari,” he added.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League (N) President Shahbaz Sharif has said his party along with the People’s Party would prove its two-thirds majority in the Punjab Assembly in the next few days.

— With input from agencies