TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Pakistan Says Emergency Will End In Month

ADVERTISEMENT

By SADAQAT JAN, The Associated Press

Published: November 11, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan eased its crackdown on opponents Saturday, releasing opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from house arrest and saying it will lift a state of emergency within a month. The government, however, blocked a meeting between a deposed Supreme Court justice and Bhutto, who pledged to lead a 185-mile protest march.

President Bush called President Pervez Musharraf's promises "positive steps," throwing U.S. support firmly behind the Pakistani leader in the fight against Islamic militants.

Bhutto, apparently unbowed by her brief detention, said she would defy Musharraf's ban on public gatherings and lead supporters on a march from the eastern city of Lahore to Islamabad on Tuesday.

Musharraf insists he called the week-old emergency to help fight Islamic extremists who control swathes of territory near the Afghan border.

Many critics say the main goal of Musharraf's emergency was to pre-empt a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of his victory in a presidential election last month. Under the constitution, public servants cannot run for office.

The main targets of his crackdown have been his most outspoken critics, including the increasingly independent courts and media.

Thousands of people have been arrested, TV news stations taken off air, and judges removed. On Saturday, three reporters from Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper were ordered to leave Pakistan.

A heavy security cordon around Bhutto's Islamabad villa kept her under house arrest for 24 hours, but she was allowed to leave Saturday morning, meeting with party colleagues and then addressing the journalists' protest.

Dozens of helmeted police blocked her Land Cruiser, however, when she tried to visit Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the chief justice who was removed from his post after Musharraf's state of emergency.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT