( dpa )- Human rights in Pakistan deteriorated through most of 2007 because of crackdowns on the media and mass detentions of opposition, the US State Department said in an annual report Tuesday.
The State Department's report on human rights faulted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's government for arresting thousands of demonstrators protesting his suspension of the Supreme Court's chief justice in March.
"Despite President Musharraf's stated commitment to democratic transition, Pakistan's human rights situation deteriorated during much of 2007," the report said.
Musharraf, a close US ally in the war on terrorism, came under intense political pressure last year while trying to fend off attacks by a radical Islamist movement and mounting opposition to his rule, which he seized in a bloodless 1999 coup.
The Supreme Court was close to ruling that Musharraf should not be permitted to run when he easily won re-election in October while he was still the chief of the Army.
Musharraf's ally parties were pummeled in February parliamentary elections and he now must deal with a potentially hostile parliament. The Pakistan People Party (PPP), which was led by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto before her December assassination, and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) were the biggest winners.
Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, and PML-N head and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif agreed on Sunday to form a coalition.
The State Department report said Musharraf used a state of emergency declaration to roundup dissidents and arrest or dismiss judges. Media outlets were required to agree to ban criticism of the government in order to continue operating.
Musharraf, however, complied with US pressure to step down as Army chief in the end of the November and took the oath of office as a civilian for the first time. The state of emergency ended in December. The State Department said those developments were "positive" but Washington continues to urge Musharraf to introduce more economic reforms.