Bhutto’s call to action could spur Pakistan showdown
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - After four days of relatively tepid statements, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday issued a rousing call to action against President Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of emergency rule, setting up a possible direct confrontation between two titans of Pakistani power.
Bhutto, whose legions of rank-and-file supporters have been conspicuously absent from anti-Musharraf demonstrations this week, urged her backers to join in a major rally Friday in Rawalpindi, headquarters for the army, which Musharraf heads.
After that, she said, opponents of emergency rule would begin “a long march” from the eastern city of Lahore to the capital, Islamabad. The 250-mile journey will take them through the heart of Pakistan’s largest and most politically influential province.
Bhutto’s declaration could mark a significant escalation in the showdown between Musharraf and the country’s lawyers, human-rights activists and political opponents who since Saturday have condemned the general for instituting de facto martial law.
Protests thus far have been lightly attended and quickly put down.
But Bhutto has an unrivaled capacity to draw crowds in Pakistan, and just last month brought hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters to the streets of Karachi for her homecoming after eight years of exile.
Large protests, especially ones that elicit violent responses from security forces, could be destabilizing for Musharraf.
“Musharraf would not survive a half-a-million people on the streets,” said Ejaz Haider, a columnist with the English-language Daily Times in Lahore. “That would be the end.”
Before her return, Bhutto and Musharraf had been in months-long power-sharing talks. Many Pakistani political analysts had speculated that even after the emergency declaration, she would not directly challenge Musharraf for fear of jeopardizing those negotiations.
But Wednesday, Bhutto gave Musharraf a 48-hour ultimatum to meet her demands or confront her in the streets.
President Bush on Wednesday told Musharraf that Pakistan must go through with parliamentary elections that had been planned for January. Bush commented after a senior U.S. official called Musharraf an “indispensable” ally in the war against extremist groups.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: “This is not a never-ending process. They need to release the people that they’ve arrested, they need to stop beating people in the streets, they need to restore press freedom and they need to get back on the path to democracy soon - now.”
The Pakistani government has sent mixed signals about how long it intends to maintain emergency rule. Some top officials have said it will end in a few weeks, while others have suggested it could go on much longer. Musharraf himself has not revealed his plans.
Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.