Bhutto issues Pakistan ultimatum

BBC

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has issued what correspondents say is an ultimatum to President Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule.

She repeated plans for a rally on Friday, despite an official ban, and called for a "long march" next week unless Gen Musharraf changed course.

She insisted that he restore the constitution, hold elections and resign as head of the army.

Gen Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Saturday after months of unrest.

The authorities have warned that police will not allow Friday's demonstration in Rawalpindi, the country's main garrison town, to go ahead.

The city's mayor, Javed Akhlas, said: "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."

He told the Associated Press there was a "strong threat" of another suicide bomb attack against Ms Bhutto, who survived an assassination attempt in Karachi on 18 October that killed more than 140 people.

Key demands

"I appeal to the people of Pakistan to come forward. We are under attack," Ms Bhutto told journalists.

She said if the security forces made it impossible to hold the rally in Rawalpindi it could be held in the eastern city of Lahore.

She also called for a "long march" starting next Tuesday, 13 November, from Lahore to Islamabad, if her key demands were not met.

They are:

* For the state of emergency to be called off, and the constitution restored

* For General Musharraf to stand down as head of the army

* For elections to be held by mid-January

* For the release of all lawyers, judges and activists arrested in the last few days

"How many people can they put behind bars? We will produce so many that they will not have enough jails," she said.

After her news conference police used teargas against a small number of her supporters in Islamabad.

Until now, protests across the country have been limited in scale, with Ms Bhutto refraining from urging supporters of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) - the country's leading political group - onto the streets.

But correspondents say a huge popular rally could raise the stakes dramatically in the country's political crisis.......