Pakistani militants released from prison

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Pakistan’s Supreme Court has issued a direct challenge to President Pervez Musharraf by releasing dozens of suspected Islamic militants from prison.

The militants, who were released without trials, were mostly seized by the Inter Services Intelligence and held without being charged for up to three years, The Times of London reported Thursday.

The Supreme Court also freed a number of people who were arrested for criticizing Musharraf’s regime, as well as activists demanding autonomy in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

The move, which came after Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry ordered the intelligence service to charge or release all those who had been detained, could potentialy raise concern in Britain and the United States over the country’s role as an ally in the so-called war on terror.