PARIS, April 21: French police who last Tuesday arrested seven Pakistani men during an early morning raid in Paris on suspicion of their links with Al Qaeda, have released six of them, saying they have no reason to detain them any longer, indeed have no proof that any of them were guilty of any wrongdoing.

The seventh in still in custody, but for the simple reason that he is illegally on French soil and is theoretically subject to expulsion from France. Police sources say, however, that he will probably be allowed to remain in the country, especially as France is in the middle of an election campaign with presidential polls to be held on May 5 and legislative elections scheduled thereafter on June 9 and 16.

According to tradition, a presidential amnesty is usually decreed by the newly-elected French president, and in certain cases persons illegally on French territory are released from the police custody.

The seven men were suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda and providing logistical support to accused shoe-bomber Richard Reid who on Dec 22 had attempted to set off a bomb on an American Airlines flight. The reason why the Pakistanis were arrested was to provide information on Mr Reid during the five days he spent here from Dec 17 to 22.

French police sources admit that when they arrested the men they were indeed reacting to orders from Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the French anti-terrorist magistrate with close ties to the FBI who had been asked by US authorities to provide information on Mr Reid and possible ties with Muslim movements in France and Europe.