Bhutto's party firm on holding rally

Islamabad: The party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto vowed on Wednesday to hold a rally near the Pakistani capital to protest emergency rule, despite threats from officials to crush it by force.

"We denounce the government ban, and want to make it clear that our supporters and leaders will reach Rawalpindi for the rally," Babar Awan, a senior member of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said.

The mayor of Rawalpindi, a garrison city just south of Islamabad, said police would be out in force to prevent anyone reaching the park where Bhutto hoped to address supporters on Friday.

"We will ensure that they don't violate the ban on rallies, and if they do it, the government will take action according to the law," mayor Javed Akhlas said.

Akhlas said there was a "strong threat" of another suicide attack against Bhutto, who escaped a blast during her homecoming procession in Karachi on October 18 that killed
more than 140 people.

A suicide bomber blew himself up a few hundred metres from President General Pervez Musharraf's office in Rawalpindi on October 30, killing seven people.

"We cannot take the risk of allowing any political party to hold big rallies," Akhlas said.

Bhutto said on Tuesday that Musharraf's resort to authoritarian measures was a "breach of trust" with her and that the talks were off.

However, she also suggested that they could resume if circumstances change.