arrests daily in 2010.96 The majority of those arrested would be released after payment of bribes. It is to be noted that unlike the previous regime, the present AL government has not carried out any mass arrests since taking office in early 2009. Under the existing Special Powers Act, 1974, subject to certain conditions, the government or a District Magistrate may order to detain a person for 30 days to prevent the commission of an act that could threaten national security; however, authorities often hold detainees for longer periods. Many detainees taken into custody during the last military-backed caretaker government’s anticorruption drive were held under this Act, and during the period the government sought and received numerous detention extensions from the Advisory Boards, constituted under the Constitution as well as the Act. However, the use of the provisions of the Special Powers Act declined in 2010 and 2011. Arbitrary and lengthy pre-trial detention is another problem of grave concern. There are an estimated two million pending civil and criminal cases; a 2008 estimate from the International Centre for Prison Studies found nearly 70 percent of prison inmates were in pre-trial detention.97 Freedom of Assembly and Association: The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly and association, and governments generally respect these rights in practice; however, at times governments limit freedom of assembly. Governments generally permit rallies to take place 78