Under arrest Bhutto finally tells Musharraf to step down

Speaking hours after being placed under house arrest for a second time, a clearly furious Bhutto hinted that her Pakistan People's Party might boycott the election which General Musharraf has promised will go ahead in January.

With the political turmoil deepening and the rift ever widenening between the two figures the West believed could share power in an effective alliance supporting the war of terror, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was headed to Pakistan and expected to reiterate Washington's calls for Musharraf to lift the state of emergency.

Scroll down for more...

Musharraf's critics and chief international backers, including Britain and the United States, have said the restrictions imposed by the military leader - including on independent media and rallies - would make it hard for upcoming parliamentary elections to be fair.

Bhutto's outburst - the first time she has urged Musharraf to quit - came after her plans for a "long march" between Lahore and the capital Islamabad were foiled when the house she was staying in was surrounded by security forces.

Day broke over Lahore to reveal Bhutto was trapped in a padlocked house surrounded by thousands of riot police, trucks, tractors loaded with sand, and a row of metal barricades topped with barbed wire.

Some 20,000 police and security officers locked down the immediate area and PPP officials said some 1,500 supporters had been arrested to thwart the protest, which had been banned under the emergency rule imposed by Musharraf 11 days ago.

"I simply won't be able to believe anything he said to me," Bhutto said. "It is time for him to go. He must quit as president."

Dozens of supporters turned out to protest at a barrier around half a mile from where Bhutto is being held, and police quickly detained most of them. A car was set alight nearby, but there was no major violence in Lahore.

Scroll down for more...

Unidentified gunmen opened fire on two police stations in Karachi while Bhutto's supporters were protesting against her detention but no one was hurt. In Peshawar, police used teargas and batons to disperse protesters.

Bhutto said that Musharraf was an obstacle to democracy and must resign both as president and army chief.

She accused him of in effect imposing martial law when he declared emergency rule - suspending citizens' rights and rounding up thousands of his opponents. Musharraf said the restrictions were needed to bolster the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Her comments appeared to bury hopes of the political rivals forming a pro-U.S. alliance against rising Islamic extremism but Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a close Musharraf ally, said he doubted Bhutto had closed the door completely to any cooperation with the general.

"She talks one thing but walks in a different way," Ahmed said, claiming her comments were a reaction to declining public support for her party.

"She knows the election result will be different from what she thought. That is why she is trying to create a disturbance."