Pakistan:Opposition parties in Pakistan were wavering yesterday on a boycott of crucial elections.
In the wake of a series of concessions from the government, the parties toned down their previously fierce campaign claiming that the ballot would be invalid unless Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf ended his state of emergency.
Several hundred more opponents across the country were released from jail, including former cricketer and opposition activist Imran Khan, as the president returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia to discuss the future of exiled rival Nawaz Sharif.
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto deferred a decision on whether to ignore the election, which she has said cannot be legitimate if the emergency continues.
Interior ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said more than 3,700 people had been released from jail. However, many high-ranking party activists and leaders, such as Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, remained inside.
There were also fresh arrests yesterday, including Wajihuddin Ahmed, a former supreme court judge who was the only candidate against Gen Musharraf in the October presidential election. He was taken into custody in Islamabad along with opposition lawyer Athar Minallah. - (AP)