John Zubrzycki, Dili – Pro-Indonesian militia were planning a military-style sweep on Dili tonight conducting house-to-house searches to check whether voters had registered for the June 7 general election, church sources revealed yesterday.

A source said the names of anybody found without voter registration cards or identity papers would be identified. "If they don't have their papers they will be killed in their next attack," the source said.

Leandro Isaac, a senior independence leader who returned home after spending six weeks under police protection, said the weekend checks were part of an intimidation campaign to get more people to vote in the Indonesian election.

"The militia are investigating all those who don't have registration cards," Mr Isaac said. "They are detaining people and indoctrinating them until they declare their loyalty."

Mr Isaac, 44, sought refuge at police headquarters in Dili on April 18 – a day after the militia killed 21 people in a rampage in the capital.

Independent reports from Ermera, Maliana, Bobonaro and Alieu in the western part of the territory also indicated pro-Indonesia militia had been carrying out voter registration checks there for the past week.

"The situation in the towns is very tense but we expect there to be a lull in violence ... so that people do not feel intimidated to vote," said a source in Dili, requesting anonymity.

A spokesman for the Forum for Unity, Democracy and Justice, which has close links with the militia, denied the reports, but said militia leaders who were campaigning for the ruling Golkar party had been attending rallies and stressing the importance of voting.

Three militia leaders, Eurico Guterres and Jose da Silva Tavares from Dili and Manuel de Sousa from Liquica, are running for Golkar in the Provincial Assembly.

The election is being seen as a litmus test for the UN-sponsored August 8 ballot that will decide the future of the former Portuguese colony. A large voter turnout would be seen as a victory for pro-Indonesian forces. A low turnout would indicate the people of East Timor are more interested in independence than in voting for a short-lived administration that would be replaced by a UN-transitional authority if the autonomy option were rejected.

A spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor said he hoped Mr Isaac's release from police protection would enable leaders of the National Council of the East Timor Resistance to come out of hiding.

David Wimhurst said it was important the CNRT be free to participate in the Peace and Stability Commission designed to promote an end to the violence between pro-integration and pro-independence groups.

Mr Isaac described as "a small victory" the UNAMET-brokered deal that allowed him to leave police headquarters with 44 other pro-independence activists. His house, attacked by militia on April 17 and still riddled with bullet holes, is under 24-hour police guard.