The Punjab province in Pakistan is believed to have released all but 87 of the activists belonging to outlawed jehadi and religious parties.
According to a report in the Pakistan Urdu daily, Jang, in most of the cases police failed to present concrete evidence against the arrested jehadis and the court had nothing to extend their detention.
The paper said 87 persons who had not been released included leaders of various outlawed groups and activists having a criminal record. No details of those who are still in police custody or in jails were available.
In the wake of the January 12 address of the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, to the people on the steps contemplated by his Government to tackle extremism, in a countrywide swoop the Government picked up over 2,000 activists from five banned militant and sectarian outfits.
However, the Government soon realised that it would be difficult to sustain the cases against them in the absence of concrete evidence on their involvement in militant or sectarian activities.
The nature of problems encountered by the Government came to fore when the Lahore High Court directed the Punjab Government to furnish details of the records of cases against those who were picked up. The Musharraf Government had little option but to release even the former chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hafeez Mohammad Saeed.
Prof. Saeed was detained under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) on charges of making inflammatory speeches. MPO empowers the Government to detain a person for a period of 90 days. There were reports in a section of the press suggesting that the Government was considering re-arrest of Prof. Saeed on the same charges. Within days after the Lahore High Court order, the Pakistan Interior Minister, Moinuddin Haider, announced an amnesty scheme under which all those detained who were prepared to give an undertaking that they had links with banned outfits and against whom no criminal cases were pending, were to be released.
There have been varied estimates
on the number of persons released in the last few days under the scheme.
While media reports said 800 of the 2,000 activists had been released under
the amnesty scheme, the former Prime Minister and the Pakistan People's
Party chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, had accused the Musharraf regime of
setting free 1,200 activists of the militant and sectarian outfits.