Opposition leader demands Musharraf quit

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Pakistani opposition leader Javed Hashmi waves in response to his supporters after his release on bail from Kotlakhpat prison in Lahore Saturday.

LAHORE, Aug 5 (AP): An outspoken Pakistani opposition leader Sunday demanded that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf step down so upcoming elections could be held free of his military government's interference.
Javed Hashmi, the acting leader of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party, spoke at a news conference Sunday, a day after being released from prison on bail after serving four years of a 23-year sentence for trying to incite a mutiny against Musharraf.
He said Musharraf should allow Sharif and another exiled former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, to return to Pakistan to contest legislative elections due by early 2008. Presidential elections are also expected soon, with Musharraf likely to seek another five-year term.
Hashmi said Musharraf should step down to prove that he was committed to free and fair elections.
"A man who held presidential elections according to his own wish, how can he be expected to hold transparent elections," Hashmi said at a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore.
Musharraf is facing the toughest period of his rule since he ousted Sharif in a bloodless coup eight years ago, with a combination of rising militant violence and growing political demands for the restoration of full democracy.
Attacks and clashes Saturday killed 23 people in the northern tribal regions, where pro-Taliban militants have been waging a campaign against Musharraf's administration, a key US ally in the fight against terrorism. It was the latest in almost daily violence that has killed more than 350 people in the past month.
The Supreme Court granted Hashmi bail Friday on charges of treason and inciting an army mutiny against Musharraf. Hashmi will be free while the court considers whether it should review his case, which rights and opposition groups have criticised as politically motivated.
Hashni told hundreds of members of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N who had gathered to greet him outside prison Saturday that "true freedom for me will come the day when we will get rid of those generals who toppled the elected government."