Bhutto placed under house arrest again in Pakistan (Roundup)

Nov 12, 2007, 18:48 GMT

Pakistan\'s former prime minister Benazir Bhutto (C), chairwoman of the opposition Pakistan People Party, is surrounded by journalists as she arrives at the Lahore Press Club in Lahore, Pakistan on 12 November 2007. Bhutto said she would lead a march from Lahore to Pakistan\'s capital Islamabad on 13 November 2007 to protest the arrests of thousands of opposition supporters under emergency rule. EPA/RAHAT DAR

Islamabad - Pakistani authorities on Monday again placed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore to prevent her from leading a rally against the emergency rule imposed by President Pervez Musharraf 10 days ago, her party said.

'Thousands of policemen have surrounded the temporary residence of Mohtrma (madam) Benazir Bhutto, and no one is allowed to see her,' a senior leader of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Jehangir Badar told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone.

Two-time prime minister, Bhutto, was to hold a 'long march for democracy' Into Islamabad from Lahore, around 290 kilometres from the capital city, on Tuesday morning.

Badar, who was not allowed to return to Bhutto's house almost an hour after he left at approximately 1700 GMT, told dpa police had sealed all access roads by placing barbed wire and barriers.

'She is under house arrest though she has not yet received any official order in this regard,' he said, adding that the party workers would go ahead with the planned demonstration at all costs.

The politician was restricted at her residence in Islamabad for several hours in on Friday when she was to lead a demonstration in the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The latest detention comes hours after Bhutto said she had finally broken off all negotiations with Musharraf, an army general who took over in a bloodless coup in 1999, in protest at his imposition of emergency rule on November 3.

'We are saying no to any more talks. It is a change from my past policy,' the ex-prime minister and head of the liberal Pakistan People's Party (PPP) told reporters in Lahore.

Creating confusion about her political motives, Bhutto has for months been engaged in backchannel dealings with the military leader.

Tipped to serve a third term as premier in exchange for her party's support, Bhutto could return to Pakistan last month from exile after securing an amnesty on corruption charges against her.

But relations appeared to sour with the imposition of emergency rule on November 3.

Musharraf cited the need to stem Islamic militancy as a main reason for the move. But many people believe it was to prevent the Supreme Court overturning his controversial re-election last month.

However, on the eve of the planned rally, Bhutto signalled a course of confrontation with the dictator.

'We cannot work with anyone who has suspended the constitution, imposed emergency rule, and oppressed the judiciary,' she said.

She was even unmoved by Musharraf's announcement Sunday that parliamentary elections would be held on time and before January 9.

Bhutto welcomed the news of the election timeframe but warned it was not adequate to defuse the ongoing political crisis since he had given no indications when he intended to lift emergency.

As well as the restoration of the suspended constitution, reinstatement of the dissolved top judiciary and the release of thousands of detained party activists, Bhutto insists that Musharraf should step down as army chief if he is to stay in power.

Meanwhile, Pakistani journalists continued their protest against the blockage of private news channels and proposed curbs on the media. More than 200 people held a demonstration in the capital, waving black flags and chanting 'We want freedom.'

Besides the political opposition and civil society groups, the international community led by the United States has also increased pressure on Musharraf - a key ally in the war against terrorism - to return the country to full democratic rule.

'And the first step is to make certain that the state of emergency ends,' US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the ABC television channel earlier.

In London, foreign ministers of the 53-nation Commonwealth gathered to discuss possible sanctions against Pakistan for the government's suspension of the constitution.

'The return to constitutionality must be accompanied by free and fair elections,' Malta's foreign minister and chairman of the group's Ministerial Action Group Michael Frendo told the BBC before the meeting.

The grouping can recommend Pakistan's expulsion from the organization as it did in 1999, when General Musharraf ousted a democratically elected government in a military coup. The country was reinstated following strong diplomatic manoeuvring.