Musharraf rivals talk of working together

updated 11:23 a.m. ET Nov. 13, 2007

LAHORE, Pakistan - Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday called on President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to resign and ruled out serving under him in a future government after she was placed under house arrest for the second time in five days.

Musharraf rejected the call, while Nawaz Sharif — a longtime Bhutto rival and fellow former prime minister — said he believed the opposition was “beginning to get together” against Musharraf.

With the political turmoil deepening, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was headed to Pakistan and expected to reiterate Washington’s calls for Musharraf to lift the state of emergency.

The Bush administration offered a measured response to Bhutto’s remarks.

“We remain concerned ... (but) we are hopeful that moderate elements would join together,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. Pakistan should get back on a path to democracy and “the political parties in Pakistan should all be working together toward that goal,” she said.

Musharraf’s critics and chief international backers, including the United States, have said the restrictions imposed by the military leader — such as on independent media and rallies — would make it hard to hold a fair vote in upcoming parliamentary elections.

Bhutto was trapped in a padlocked house surrounded by thousands of riot police, trucks, tractors loaded with sand, and a row of metal barricades topped with barbed wire. She said it was now likely her Pakistan People’s Party would boycott the January elections and ruled out serving a term as prime minister under Musharraf.

“I simply won’t be able to believe anything he said to me,” she told reporters by telephone from the house in Lahore where she was held to prevent her leading a protest procession.

Her comments appeared to bury hopes of the political rivals forming a pro-U.S. alliance against rising Islamic extremism. They had held months of talks that paved the way for Bhutto’s return from exile last month to contest the parliamentary elections.

Bhutto backers fire on police stations
In the southern city of Karachi, Bhutto supporters fired on two police stations in a poor district where her party is popular, and police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators, senior police officer Fayyaz Khan said. A 9-year-old boy and a 22-year-old woman were wounded in crossfire between demonstrators and police, witnesses said.

Bhutto told the private Geo TV network that Musharraf was a hurdle to democracy and must resign both as president and army chief.

She accused Musharraf of imposing effective martial law when he declared emergency rule Nov. 3 — suspending citizens’ rights and rounding up thousands of his opponents. Musharraf said the restrictions were needed to bolster the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

In an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, Musharraf said Bhutto “has no right” to ask him to resign, and said she was exaggerating her popular support.

“Let’s start the elections and let’s see whether she wins,” Musharraf said.

Negroponte’s trip to Pakistan was pre-planned and part of a regular strategic dialogue with Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton.

Slide show   Street fury View images from the protests by lawyers and students against Pakistan’s government. more photos

Authorities mounted a massive security operation to prevent Bhutto from leading a 175-mile procession to the capital, Islamabad, to press for an end to emergency rule. Officers detained scores of her supporters, including several lawmakers, who approached the barricades shouting slogans including “Go, Musharraf, go!” and “Prime Minister Benazir!”

Bhutto’s spokeswoman, Sherry Rehman, said the former prime minister was stuck in the house with a handful of top aides. She said Punjab’s provincial government had attached the seven-day detention order as well as several padlocks to the front gate.

Aftab Cheema, chief of operations of Lahore police, said Bhutto would not be allowed to leave the house, which was declared a “sub-jail.”

Alliance with Sharif?
Bhutto said once she was freed from detention, she would work to forge a broad alliance including Sharif, who shares her wish to end military rule.

Sharif was ousted by Musharraf in the 1999 coup that brought the general to power. He tried to return to Pakistan in September but was immediately deported.

Speaking from exile in Saudi Arabia, Sharif told The Associated Press that he believed the opposition was “beginning to get together.”

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