Pakistan police bar Bhutto's visit to Chaudhry

Islamabad: Pakistani police on Saturday blocked opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from visiting the country's deposed chief justice at his home, witnesses said.

Police parked two trucks on the road to block Bhutto's path as she tried to approach the home of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who is under house arrest.

Chaudhry is one of several officials put under house arrest after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule last Saturday and dismissed most of the judiciary.

Bhutto herself was kept under house arrest on Friday to prevent her from joining an anti-Musharraf rally, but was allowed to leave her residence on Saturday.

She met leaders and members of her Pakistan People's Party. An aide said that the opposition leader is planning another protest on Tuesday.

Also on Saturday, Pakistan's attorney general Malik Mohammed Qayyum said that the country's "state of emergency will end within one month."

Qayyum provided no further details and would not say when a formal announcement might come.