Pakistan's former premier Benazir Bhutto has been placed under house arrest, hours before she was due to lead a rally against a state of emergency, government officials said."She is being placed under house arrest,'' a senior government offcial told AFP on condition of anonymity.
An AFP correspondent saw a magistrate entering her house in Islamabad, apparently with the arrest order, while dozens of police cordoned off the street outside.
Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party also claimed police had arrested 5000 of its supporters to head off the rally.
Police had been bracing for a showdown with Ms Bhutto today when she vowed to lead a banned rally against President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of a state of emergency. The Government deployed 6000 police officers to stop the protest in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, completely sealing off the planned venue in the garrison city with barbed wire and concrete blocks. The stand-off came a day after General Musharraf said he would hold elections by February 15, a month later than scheduled, in a bid to fend off criticism from Western allies and domestic opponents.
"Under no circumstances will the rally be allowed. The law will take its course against anyone who defies it,'' Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz said. "It is the instruction of the provincial government and we will implement those instructions. We have deployed 6000 policemen and taken control of the rally venue,'' he said.
Political gatherings have been banned under the state of emergency declared on Saturday. The constitution has also been suspended, the chief justice sacked and more than 3000 people arrested.
Police also warned that up to eight suicide bombers had infiltrated Rawalpindi, raising the spectre of a repeat of the double suicide blast that killed 139 people at her homecoming parade in Karachi on October 18. "There is a very credible threat of suicide attacks. That is why the Government imposed the restrictions,'' interior ministry spokesman Javed Cheema said.
Ms Bhutto's party has so far stayed off the streets, leaving lawyers to bear the brunt of police violence against protesters and leading to suspicions that she is in secret talks on a power-sharing deal with Gen Musharraf.
But she turned on Gen Musharraf on Wednesday, vowing to press on with the Rawalpindi protest and to hold a "long march'' from Lahore to Islamabad on November 13 if he did not meet her demands.