President Pervez Musharraf has been strongly reprimanded by Amnesty International in its newly published annual report. The human rights organisation has called for the immediate restoration of Pakistan’s deposed judges and an independent investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The denunciation of Pakistani President is linked to Amnesty’s criticism of what it characterises as “the hollowness of the US Administration’s call for democracy and freedom abroad” that was displayed in “its continued support of President Musharraf, as he arrested thousands of lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and political activists for demanding democracy, the rule of law, and an independent judiciary in Pakistan”.

A number of other countries, including China, Russia and Myanmar, have also come under Amnesty’s critical microscope, but Musharraf is the only international leader to be so roundly named and shamed by Amnesty.

After underlining what it says are Musharraf’s “repressive policies”, the foreword to the report adds that “enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention have fed grievances, helped to spur anti-western sentiment and laid the seeds for greater instability in the region. The Pakistani people have shown their strong repudiation of President Musharraf’s policies, even as the USA continues to embrace him”.

A retired Pakistani female judge has been made available by Amnesty as one of the five international case studies for interaction with the media. She is Justice Majita Razvi, a former head of Women’s Commission. “She didn’t protest with lawyers on the streets last year, but did publish written statements supporting them and the Supreme Court Chief Justice,” Amnesty says.