Bhutto vows mass protest against Musharraf

Islamabad: Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto will defy President Pervez Musharraf with a pro-democracy rally next week, an aide said on Saturday.

Bhutto, who was put under house arrest on Friday to stop her from leading a protest in Rawalpindi, plans to travel by motorcade from Lahore to the capital on Tuesday.

Police security was still tight outside Bhutto's home in Islamabad early on Saturday despite police saying she was no longer under house arrest, witnesses said.

Thousands of Bhutto's supporters were arrested on Friday when police also used batons and teargas to break up small protests in several parts of the country.

"On the 13th, [the motorcade] will go ahead. If she's not there, the rally will still happen," said Jamil Soomro, a media coordinator for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.

He said Bhutto was likely to spend Saturday meeting foreign diplomats but gave no details on her movements.

"The government has been paralysed," Bhutto shouted to supporters across a barbed-wire barricade on Friday.

"If he restores the constitution, takes off his uniform, gives up the office of the chief of army staff and announces an election by January 15, then it's OK," she said.

Musharraf imposed emergency rule last Saturday and suspended the constitution. He also dismissed most of the country's judges and put senior officials under house arrest.