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Crisis in Pakistan

Bhutto Plans Mass Rally Against Musharraf

Until now, the Pakistani opposition has left it to the country's lawyers to organize protests against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency. But former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is planning a massive march for Friday.

With leaders from across the world twisting the arm of Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to retreat from his declaration of emergency on Saturday, the most intense pressure may be brewing from inside the country. Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who has so far refrained from mobilizing her supporters against Musharraf's installation of military rule, may go on the offensive later this week.

REUTERS

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has said she is planning a massive demonstration in Pakistan for Friday.

But on Tuesday, as Musharraf was holding a cabinet meeting to decide on a timeline for elections Bhutto made her way from Karachi to the capital, Islamabad, to meet with other opposition politicians and to plan a massive rally for Friday in the nearby city of Rawalpindi. As Bhutto boarded a plane in Karachi she vowed that she would not meet or negotiate with Musharraf.

Until Saturday Bhutto had been expected to form some kind of power-sharing arrangement with Musharraf after returning from exile two weeks ago. She has already denounced the emergency declaration as "mini-martial law" but had so far held back from mobilizing her huge popular support. However, on Monday she said: "If we do nothing, then Musharraf will think that the nation supports what has happened, and the nation does not support that." Speaking to the London Times Bhutto said: "The people of this country want change. They want General Musharraf to announce the restoration of the constitution, his retirement as Chief of Army Staff and the holding of elections on schedule."

Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister, who Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999 called for people to take to the streets. Speaking from his exile in Saudi Arabia he said it was time for "the whole country to rise against these dictatorial actions."

Musharraf and his government met on Tuesday to consider when to hold elections, currently scheduled for mid-January, after days of mixed signals from Islamabad. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Monday that there would be elections in January and close Musharraf ally, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, told reporters: "Elections will be held, will be held on time and the tenure (of the assemblies) is not being extended for a year." Cabinet member Sheik Rashid Ahmad told the Associated Press that Musharraf wanted to go ahead with the polls as planned but "some elements want them to be delayed for a year."

Musharraf met with foreign diplomats on Monday to justify his actions, saying: "I am determined to execute this third stage of transition fully and I'm determined to remove my uniform once we correct these pillars, the judiciary and the executive and the parliament." However, his decision to impose a state of emergency is widely regarded as a desperate attempt to cling to power. The general is thought to have been pre-empting a ruling by the Supreme Court that was expected to find his October re-election as president was illegal because he has not resigned from his military leadership position.

Several high-ranking judges were dismissed after refusing to back the emergency rule on Saturday, including the former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry, who Musharraf unsuccessfully attempted to dismiss in March. On Monday Chaudry, who is under house arrest, called on lawyers to defy the baton-wielding police and go out on the streets. "Go to every corner of Pakistan and give the message that this is the time to sacrifice," he told lawyers by mobile phone. "Don't be afraid. God will help us and the day will come when you'll see the constitution reign supreme and there will be no dictatorship for a long time."

As lawyers staged a second day of protests on Tuesday, troops in Islamabad manned razor-wire checkpoints near the presidential palace, parliament and Supreme Court. Police also vetted lawyers trying to enter the High Court in Karachi. In the central city of Multan unrest broke out when 1,000 lawyers chanted "Go Musharraf Go" and threw stones at the police.

The opposition say that in total 3,500 people have been arrested since Saturday, though the government puts the figure at 2,500. While Musharraf had claimed the imposition of emergency rule was aimed at tackling the threat from Islamist militants, the majority of those detained have been lawyers, opposition party supporters and rights activists.

smd/ap/reuters

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