PAKISTAN:A crunch moment in Pakistan's emergency rule crisis loomed last night as opposition leader Benazir Bhutto prepared to stage a mass rally today, in defiance of a government ban.
With the security forces threatening to break up the meeting, it promised to be the first major confrontation with President Pervez Musharraf since he assumed sweeping powers last Saturday, and added to international pressure for a return to constitutional rule.
Gen Musharraf tried to deflate the international outrage by setting a tentative date for elections, a day after a reportedly frank 20-minute telephone conversation with US president George Bush. Polls will take place by mid-February "at the latest" - a month later than the previous deadline of mid-January - he told reporters.
Dressed in a business suit instead of his army uniform, Gen Musharraf reiterated plans to step down as army chief, once a supreme court legal challenge has been cleared. On Wednesday Mr Bush said he had told the general: "You can't be the president and the head of the military at the same time."
Before this crisis the US had been quietly encouraging a political marriage between Gen Musharraf and Ms Bhutto. But today's rally in Rawalpindi, if it goes ahead, will put the two leaders on a collision course.
Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said last night that hundreds of activists had been arrested across Punjab province. The government said it had only picked up a handful of people. The PPP leadership in Islamabad remained at liberty, however - a sign that Ms Bhutto is still open to reaching a negotiated settlement with the general.
Elsewhere the security forces continued their crackdown on opponents of Gen Musharraf. Thousands have been arrested and television stations taken off air under a virtual martial law widely seen as a desperate ploy by a power-hungry leader.
Protests were sporadic and small-scale. In Islamabad police chased 20 students into the local bar association office after they joined a lawyers' protest.
In Lahore 100 university professors went on strike.
In Karachi police charged a trade unionist and three left-wingers with treason for making anti-Musharraf speeches. Another eight lawyers were on the run, fleeing similar charges.
Worries mounted for the wellbeing of imprisoned lawyers and members of opposition parties. Some have "disappeared" since being snatched by security agencies, such as the firebrand lawyers' leader, Ali Ahmed Kurd.
Human Rights Watch said it had credible reports from unnamed government officials that some detained lawyers had been mistreated. "By destabilising the country with his naked power grab, Musharraf has alienated moderates and played into the hands of extremists," said the organisation's Asia director, Brad Adams.
There was little indication of how long emergency rule would last. The attorney general, Malik Qayyum, suggested one or two months. "It depends on how the law and order situation improves," he said.