Bhutto calls for mass protests

Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto today called on her supporters to defy a ban on protests against emergency rule "at all costs".

Even as the government threatened to crush demonstrations, members of her Pakistan People's Party were planning a march on Friday from the capital Islamabad to nearby Rawalpindi.

"I request my brothers and sisters to reach Rawalpindi at all costs," said Ms Bhutto, who survived a suicide bombing last month that killed more than 140 people.

She also said more than 400 members of her party have been arrested since President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Saturday.

The mayor of Rawalpindi said police would prevent anyone reaching the park where Ms Bhutto plans to address supporters.

"We will ensure that they don't violate the ban on rallies, and if they do it, the government will take action according to the law," Javed Akhlas said, claiming there was a "strong threat" of another suicide attack against Bhutto.

General Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, suspended the constitution after declaring the state of emergency and cancelled parliamentary elections due in January.

He has since sacked independent-minded judges, muzzled the media and granted sweeping powers to authorities to crush dissent. Thousands of people have been rounded up and thrown in jail.

With the encouragement of the United States, gen Musharraf had been holding talks with Ms Bhutto that were widely expected to lead to a power-sharing arrangement after parliamentary elections, which were originally schedule for January.

Ms Bhutto said yesterday that gen Musharraf's actions were a "breach of trust" and the talks were off. However, she also suggested that they could resume if circumstances change.

"I think we should all come down as strongly as we can for the restoration of democracy. And if General Musharraf wants to find a way out, well the ball is in his court," she said.

The United States and other foreign aid suppliers to Pakistan are pressing for the elections to be held on time. They are also urging gen Musharraf to keep a promise to quit his post as army chief - the real source of his power.

Gen Musharraf says he suspended the constitution because the courts were hampering Pakistan's effort to fight extremism by ordering the release of suspects held without charge. But opponents accuse him of a mounting a last-ditch manoeuvre to stay in power.

Ms Bhutto met other opposition parties in Islamabad today to discuss a joint strategy against the emergency. However, the party of Nawaz Sharif, the premier gen Musharraf deposed in a coup in 1999, did not attend.

Gen Musharraf sacked the Supreme Court's main judges just as it was preparing to rule on the legality of his contested re-election as president last month.