Pakistan activist calls for action

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The leading lawyer behind the judicial opposition movement in Pakistan issued a letter from detention calling for action to keep the movement alive.

Aitzaz Ahsan said in a letter published Wednesday that those participating in the January parliamentary elections should sign an oath pledging to restore the judiciary, The New York Times said Friday.

Ashan said he feared municipal issues would overshadow the restoration of the judiciary without the pledges, while another leading judicial activist, Muneer A. Malik, said the elections would be impossible without the oversight of the deposed courts.

The sentiments were sparked by concerns that opposition leaders and members of other major political parties would participate in the upcoming elections despite concerns over their fairness.

Opposition officials side-stepped the issue, offering expressions of solidarity, but fell short of explicitly supporting the restoration of Pakistan's judiciary suspended Nov. 3 by President Pervez Musharraf, the Times said.