ISLAMABAD, 5 August 2007 — A senior Pakistani opposition leader, Javed Hashmi, walked out of prison yesterday after about four years of detention. He was arrested in 2003 and convicted in 2004 on treason charges for criticizing the army.
Hundreds of supporters greeted Hashmi who vowed to resume his campaign against President Pervez Musharraf. People chanted slogans and garlanded Hashmi, from the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, outside the Kot Lakhpat central jail, sources said.
Hashmi, the acting president of the PML-N, was released a day after the Supreme Court granted him bail part-way into a 23-year sentence for treason and inciting an army mutiny against Musharraf.
Rights and opposition groups criticized the charges as politically motivated. The Supreme Court agreed to grant him bail of 50,000 rupees (about $800) while it considers his application for the case to be reviewed.
Hashmi was one of the most outspoken critics of Musharraf, an army general who ousted Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999.
“My fight was for the restoration of democracy, and the true freedom for me will come the day when we will get rid of those generals who toppled the elected government,” Hashmi told reporters outside the prison.
“There will be no compromise with the dictators,” he said. “I will only consider myself a free man when the entire nation will get freedom from these generals.”
Members of the Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N had gathered outside the Kotlakhpat prison in Lahore throughout yesterday, and a party atmosphere developed with drummers and horn-players.
The crowd had swelled to many hundreds, many waving the green-colored flags of Sharif’s party, by the time Hashmi emerged. They rushed the door of the prison, waving green-colored flags of Sharifs’ party and chanting: “Brave man, Hashmi, Hashmi!”
Hashmi, draped in a flower garland, climbed onto the front of a four-wheel drive vehicle to lead a procession through the streets of Lahore.
He was expected to return to Islamabad tomorrow. Hashmi’s release strengthens the hand of pro-democracy forces who now pose a serious challenge to a weakened Musharraf, and demonstrates the growing clout of the recently reinstated chief justice as Pakistan heads toward crucial elections and Musharraf seeks a new five-year term. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry — who was suspended by Musharraf in March but then cleared of charges of misconduct amid a groundswell of opposition to military rule — headed the three-judge panel that ordered Hashmi’s release.
Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and promised to restore democracy, has been badly weakened by his failed attempt to oust Chaudhry. He also faces a tide of militant violence and US demands for tougher action against Al-Qaeda sanctuaries along the Afghan border.
“The court is reasserting its independence and trying to bring the rule of law,” said political analyst Talat Masood. “You can see President Musharraf’s power is diminishing. They (the government) will have to play by the rules now and not by whims.”
Hashmi was sentenced in a closed court after circulating a letter, supposedly from Pakistani soldiers, criticizing Musharraf for making Pakistan a US ally in its war on terror in Afghanistan, and praising Parliament for opposing a US request for Pakistan to send troops to Iraq. The letter was written on military stationery, but was unsigned. The government says it was forged.
The ruling on Hashmi could further encourage Sharif to attempt a return to Pakistan from exile.
Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, appealed on Thursday to the Supreme Court to be allowed to return to contest parliamentary elections due later this year.
The court is yet to begin hearing the appeal, but Musharraf has said he would block attempts by the two brothers to return.
