لراوبر ویب پاڼه لراوبر يو افغان – تازه خبرونه
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Police blocked opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who herself was kept under house arrest for most of After imposing emergency rule and suspending the constitution a “He is the chief justice, he is the real chief justice,” Bhutto Bhutto will defy Musharraf and go ahead with a pro-democracy On Friday, police used batons and teargas to break up small Pakistan’s slide into political uncertainty has accelerated over Bhutto, the Pakistani politician most able to mobilize masses, was She briefly joined journalists protesting outside the offices of a Bhutto is due to head to Lahore on Sunday, and has said Musharraf Musharraf has said elections will be held by February 15, about a Officials say Musharraf will likely keep the emergency short. “The emergency will end within a month or two. It all depends on Bhutto has been holding power-sharing talks with Musharraf for FOREIGN PRESSURE The United States kept up pressure on Musharraf, who took power in “Free and fair elections require a lifting of the state of The United States also called for the release of political party An Interior Ministry spokesman said 2,500 people had been detained President George W. Bush has said Musharraf can’t be army chief But many ordinary Pakistanis doubt Musharraf will follow through U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday he was (Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony and Rehmatullah Mehsud;
Bhutto from visiting Pakistan’s deposed chief justice on Saturday, as President
Pervez Musharraf resisted U.S. calls to end emergency rule.
Friday, tried to approach former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s home, where
he is being detained, but police parked two trucks on the road to block her
path.
week ago citing a hostile judiciary and rising militancy, General Musharraf
sacked most of the Supreme Court’s judges and has since replaced them with more
amenable ones.
blared over a megaphone, demanding they all be reinstated.
motorcade from Lahore to Islamabad next week, after police scotched a protest by
her Pakistan People’s Party in the garrison town of Rawalpindi adjoining
Islamabad on Friday.
protests in several parts of the country, but demonstrations have been
relatively small by Pakistani standards.
the past week with military chief Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule
scaring foreign investors and spooking domestic markets. Thousands of Musharraf
opponents have been arrested.
due to meet foreign diplomats later in the day.
television channel against a blackout on private news broadcasts. BBC and CNN
are also off the air, though newspapers are still publishing freely.
can defuse the protest if he restores the constitution, removes his army uniform
and calls elections by mid-January.
month later than they were due. He also said he would quit as army chief and be
sworn in as a civilian president once new judges appointed to the Supreme Court
struck down challenges against his re-election.
the law and order situation,” said Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum.
months and political analysts say cooperation between the pair — which the
United States was earlier said to have been encouraging — is still
possible.
a bloodless 1999 coup and is regarded as a close ally in the fight against al
Qaeda and the Taliban, calling for an end to emergency rule he imposed a week
ago citing a hostile judiciary and rising militancy.
emergency,” said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National
Security Council.
members and peaceful protesters, he said.
since the emergency was declared, though Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party say
5,000 of their activists have been picked up over the past few days.
and president at the same time.
on his pledge, saying quitting as army chief would erode his authority in the
nuclear-armed state.
concerned instability could distract Pakistani forces who have been fighting
Islamists in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan — an area in which Osama bin
Laden is believed to be hiding.
Editing by Robert Birsel)
