NYT : Barricaded in Home, Bhutto Says President Should Resign

Barricaded in Home, Bhutto Says President Should Resign

By DAVID ROHDE and JANE PERLEZ | November 14, 2007

LAHORE, Pakistan, Nov. 13 — Hundreds of riot policemen blocked the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and her supporters from setting out today on a planned march from Lahore across 160 miles of Punjab Province to the capital, Islamabad.

Ms. Bhutto, barricaded in her home here, called for the resignation of Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in a telephone interview with CNN this morning. She told a group of reporters by telephone that her political party, which usually commands about one-third of the popular vote, will probably boycott the parliamentary elections planned for January, The Associated Press reported.

Ms. Bhutto told CNN that she and her party, the Pakistan People’s Party, were not in discussions with General Musharraf, either directly or indirectly, over a possible power-sharing agreement, which the United States had urged the two sides to reach.

Instead, Ms. Bhutto told the group of reporters, her party will pursue an alliance with other opposition groups, including its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to restore democracy.About 900 police officers surrounded the house where Ms. Bhutto is staying here. Workers from her political party who tried to cross police lines to reach her were arrested. Riot policemen sealed off the neighborhood using barbed wire and dump trucks loaded with sand.

Early in the day, a party spokesman, Farzana Raja, told reporters, “We will definitely try to come out,” and added about Ms. Bhutto, “She will definitely try to come out.” Minutes later, the police arrested Ms. Raja and several dozen other party workers.

Ms. Bhutto said in the telephone interview, “My plans have been taken out of my hands by force.”

Some 3,500 police officers were deployed around Lahore, and they arrested hundreds of Pakistan People’s Party workers. Riot police were stationed outside government buildings here as well, in anticipation of protests by Ms. Bhutto’s supporters.

The government has moved repeatedly to head off mass demonstrations planned by Ms. Bhutto and her party. The city of Rawalpindi was flooded with police on Friday to prevent a rally there, and on Monday, the government placed Ms. Bhutto under house arrest for seven days.

Other opposition groups have accused her of mounting only token protests while negotiating with General Musharraf. But a party vice-president, Yousuf Arza Giani, stood in front of police barriers today and told reporters that the party had broken off all talks with the government. “It’s really bad, extremely bad,” he said.

A government spokesman, Tariq Azim Khan, citing intelligence reports, suggested that Ms. Bhutto could be a target for militants. She survived a suicide-bombing attack on her motorcade last month in Karachi when she returned to Pakistan, after eight years in self-imposed exile, to lead her party in parliamentary elections.

While it is generally agreed that a threat to her safety exists, though, General Musharraf is widely seen here as using it, and the larger specter of terrorism, as a pretext to expand his own powers and squelch all opposition. Officials of Ms. Bhutto’s party scoffed at the notion of an imminent threat. “It’s a drama — there is no reality to it,” a local spokeswoman said today.

The attack on Oct. 18 in Karachi killed about 140 party workers. The government has used that attack as public justification for stopping demonstrations, which it says are illegal under General Musharraf’s emergency-rule decree.

The Muslim League and another important opposition party, the Jamaat-e-Islaami, said on Monday that they would probably boycott the elections if emergency rule was still in place. General Musharraf said on Sunday that emergency rule would continue at least until the elections are held.

Ms. Bhutto was prime minister of Pakistan twice and was twice dismissed before she was able to complete her terms. In the CNN interview, she reiterated her desire to stay in the country. “I prefer to live in Pakistan in jail,” she said, “than to leave.”

Separately, foreign ministers from the Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies said Pakistan would be suspended from the organization unless the decree was repealed and General Musharraf stepped down as army chief by Nov. 22, The Associated Press reported.

Jane Perlez reported from Islamabad, and David Rohde from Lahore, Pakistan.