A defiant Benazir Bhutto will lead a pro-democracy rally in Pakistan next week, despite facing the threat of another house arrest by President Pervez Musharraf.
On Friday, police surrounded the Islamabad residence of former prime minister Bhutto with barbed wire and concrete barriers to prevent her from leading a protest in a nearby town.
Ms Bhutto was not allowed to leave her residence until Saturday.
“I thank the international community for standing by the people of Pakistan and supporting people’s democratic aspirations and for elections on time,” said Ms Bhutto as she set off to meet with civil society groups and foreign diplomats.
After declaring a state of emergency and suspending Pakistan’s constitution last week, President Musharraf dismissed seven Supreme Court judges to pre-empt their judgment that he is ineligible for re-election. He then rounded up political opposition leaders and their supporters, including a reported 5,000 of Ms Bhutto’s followers.
Ms Bhutto has vowed to lead a pro-democracy march from Lahore to Islamabad on Tuesday as planned.
She returned to Pakistan from exile last month in order to run for president in elections scheduled for January.
Prior to her return, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brokered an agreement between Ms Bhutto and Mr Musharraf to enable them to share power after the elections, in order to head off the threat of an Islamic state being formed in the nuclear-armed nation.
President Bush rang Mr Musharraf this week to persuade him to end the state of emergency, hold elections as scheduled and step down from his post as head of the Pakistani army.
Mr Bush also called for the release of political opposition leaders, their supporters and peaceful protesters, who are still being held without charge.
Mr Musharraf has publicly agreed to hold elections on February 15 and relinquish his position as military chief.
However, he appears reluctant to end the state of emergency and release the political prisoners.
“The emergency will end within a month or two,” said Pakistan’s Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum. “It all depends on the law and order situation. If it is normal, the emergency will be lifted.”
Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, has warned, “Free and fair elections require a lifting of the state of emergency.”
Mr Musharraf has been roundly criticized for dictator-like behavior and for calling the state of emergency to tighten his grip on power.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday he is concerned that the current instability in Pakistan will distract the military from the critical task of fighting al Qaeda militants and Taliban forces near the border with Afghanistan.
