By Jane Perlez/New York Times
Saudi Arabia, Nov 21: In his first trip out of the country since declaring emergency rule, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the future of one of his main political rivals, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who lives in exile there.
Saudi Arabia, one of Pakistan's closest allies, has indicated Sharif should be allowed to return to his homeland to take part in parliamentary elections, Pakistani officials and Western diplomats said.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry announced that 3,416 detainees arrested under the emergency rule had been released. That figure could not be verified. However, a Western diplomat said Tuesday that the Pakistani government had indicated that about 1,000 detainees out of 4,500 had been released.
On the issue of Sharif's return to Pakistan, diplomats said the Saudis have argued that since Pakistan allowed a secular leader, Benazir Bhutto, to return from self-imposed exile, then Sharif, a more conservative and religiously inclined leader, should be permitted to come back, too.
Musharraf toppled Sharif in a bloodless coup in October 1999, and sent him into exile soon afterward. Sharif has become one of the general's fiercest critics, and his return to Pakistan could present a strong political challenge to the party that backs Musharraf and to Bhutto's party.
In Musharraf's absence, the Pakistani election commission said parliamentary elections would be held Jan.
Musharraf has insisted these elections will be held under emergency rule, a stance the Bush administration has criticized.
Opposition parties have said free and fair elections would be impossible under the emergency decree, now more than two weeks old, which has banned public gatherings and shut down independent news channels. But so far, the parties have stopped short of forming a united front that would boycott the voting.
In Karachi, police arrested about 200 journalists Tuesday as they marched from the press club to the governor's house to protest the closure of Geo TV. The TV station has refused to sign a new code of conduct introduced by the government since emergency rule was imposed Nov. 3.
Speaking in Karachi from a police station where he was being held with 35 other journalists, Zarar Khan, a reporter with the Associated Press, said two journalists were beaten severely by police officers as they were rounded up and had suffered head wounds.
The most prominent government opponents remain detained. Among them are the four leaders of the lawyers' movement, including Aitzaz Ahsan, the chairman of the Supreme Court Bar Association, and leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League, the political party led by Sharif. The judges on the Supreme Court who were dismissed by Musharraf also still are under house arrest.
The role of Sharif has come to the fore since the return of Bhutto, who also is a former prime minister. Sharif tried to return to Pakistan a few months ago after the Supreme Court ruled that he should be permitted to do so. But soon after landing at the Islamabad airport in September, Sharif was unceremoniously sent back to Saudi Arabia.
Since then, supporters of Sharif have protested, asserting that it was unfair of the Saudis to keep Sharif and effectively prevent him from taking part in Pakistani politics. The demonstrations against Saudi Arabia, an ally that contributes financially to Islamic schools and sells oil to Pakistan at favorable rates, are deeply embarrassing to the Saudi royal family, diplomats and Pakistani officials said.
In an interview in Tuesday's issue of the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Sharif said he would not meet with Musharraf in Saudi Arabia, and that he wanted emergency rule lifted before he would return. Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for Sharif's party, said Musharraf would be trying to dissuade the Saudis from releasing Sharif.
"From the Saudi point of view, Benazir Bhutto is here, but Sharif is not allowed," Iqbal said. "By having him in Saudi Arabia, they become involved in party politics here, and they don't like that."