Bhutto calls for Musharraf to quit
Updated on 13 November 2007
Benazir Bhutto has demanded that General Musharraf step down as President after he imposed emergency rule earlier this month.
So much for a mass protest march on the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Supporters of Benazir Bhutto instead were taken away by police outside the home in Lahore where she was beginning a week under house arrest.
They claimed the so-called Long March to Democracy had begun from elsewhere - but it's understood there had been few preparations - and though the police and media were there in force, it didn't seem Mrs Bhutto had been able to mobilize much local support.
'I really think he's gone too far and it's now time for him to leave both posts'Benazir Bhutto
From inside the house - now designated a temporary jail - she called on General Musharraf to stand down.
"I really think he's gone too far and it's now time for him to leave both posts." - Benazir Bhutto
President Musharraf has promised elections before 9 Jan, but Mrs Bhutto says she will not serve under him - even throwing into question her party's participation in the polls.
For now, though, the government crackdown is holding firm, and mass protests against it conspicuous by their absence.
'In the end, it has to be the people of Pakistan who decide who their government should be, not me'David Miliband, Foreign Secretary
Ministers from several Commonwealth countries including Britain have threatened Pakistan with suspension unless Musharraf repeals emergency laws, restores the constitution and steps down by November 22nd.
Ms Bhutto also urged Britain's Foreign Secretary, David Miliband to ask General Musharraf to quit but Mr Miliband said he would only consider her request.
"I will look obviously at what Benazir Bhutto has said, but the point of consensus up until now with all of our international partners ... has been about the centrality of free and fair elections," he said.
"In the end, it has to be the people of Pakistan who decide who their government should be, not me."
