Islamabad, Nov 01: Pakistan's main 15-party opposition alliance has formed a special legal team to secure the release of its top leader, arrested and charged with treason, a senior politician said today. The team, comprising lawyers Zafar Ali Shah and Aitzaz Ahmad, will battle to prove Javed Hashmi's arrest was illegal, Mukhdoom Amin Fahim, chairman of the opposition alliance for restoration of democracy, told reporters. Hashmi, who is president of the alliance and also heads the Pakistan Muslim League, was detained late Wednesday as he was leaving his residence for an opposition meeting. He was later charged with treason and defaming Pakistan's armed forces, because he allegedly released a fake letter from the military that criticized President Gen Pervez Musharraf. Opposition lawmakers held a peaceful protest yesterday outside parliament in Islamabad, to press for Hashmi's release.
The government says it is interrogating Hashmi to determine how he prepared a letter written on military stationary.

The unsigned letter - purportedly from an army officer - praised parliament for opposing a us request to send Pakistani troops to Iraq. It also criticized Musharraf's policy of supporting the US-led war against terrorism in Afghanistan, and called for a debate on how the president became Pakistan's leader. Bureau Report