ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: Fair and free elections in Pakistan are ‘impossible’ following the dismantling of an independent judiciary and a crackdown on critics by President Pervez Musharraf, a rights group said on Wednesday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said scores of lawyers, judges and other government critics remained detained in Pakistan despite the lifting of the state of emergency.

Gen Musharraf’s “dismantling of an independent judiciary and the crackdown on the vocal lawyers’ movement mean free and fair elections, scheduled for January 8, will be impossible,” the group said in its latest report on Pakistan.

The 84-page report, titled “Destroying Legality: Pakistan’s Crackdown on Lawyers and Judges,” presents eyewitness accounts of police violence, arbitrary arrests, and mistreatment of detained lawyers under emergency rule.

“The lawyers’ movement had done more in eight months to challenge the pillars of military rule than the political opposition had done in eight years,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“Musharraf’s crackdown on legal institutions is a huge setback for human rights and the rule of law in Pakistan,” Mr Hasan said.

Under the revised constitution, unilaterally imposed by President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, the government has new powers to disbar lawyers involved in peaceful anti-government activities, the HRW said.—AFP