Bhutto Under House Arrest

A huge security contingent encircled Benazir Bhutto's Islamabad home today and sealed off a nearby public park to prevent the Pakistani opposition leader addressing a public rally.

Ms Bhutto tried to leave the house at 1.30pm local time (0830 GMT), but was prevented from leaving the street by a police blockade. Addressing the security forces in front of her, she said: "I'm you sister, I'm the daughter of Bhutto. I'm unarmed - let me go." The police however insisted she go back inside her home.

"If I am arrested the PPP workers will continue to fight for democracy and the rule of law. I want a political process," she said.

In a separate development, lawyer Athar Minallah told the Guardian he had spoken to the country's chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who has also been under effective house arrest since the imposition of emergency rule.

'I spoke to the chief justice and they have come and informed him they are going to take him to Quetta [in western Pakistan]," Mr Minallah said.

"[The chief justice] said his seven-year-old child is not well, and he does not want to leave Ismalanbad, but they told him they will take him forcefully ... he said he will not give in to tyranny and undemocratic forces."

Several hundred riot police clutching batons manned barricades at both ends of the street in the leafy Islamabad suburb where Ms Bhutto has her home, as plain clothes security men whisked away supporters who turned up outside.

However parliamentarians and senior members of Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's party (PPP) were allowed to enter the house. As she emerged, spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said they would press ahead regardless.

"She will continue with the rally despite the clampdown," she said. "They need an armored personnel carrier to stop an unarmed woman from leading a demonstration - this is a joke."

"It has now fallen on our shoulders to mobilize public support," she said. "This party has paid with blood, sweat and tears before. It will do so again."

It was difficult to see how the rally might be possible. In nearby Rawalpindi, where it was due to take place, hundreds of police, some on horseback, barricaded a public park and sealed main streets.

A fleet of motorcycle police roamed the city, warning residents not to participate. A nearby motorway was also closed.

Outside Ms Bhutto's home, the handful of supporters who turned up were peeled away by plainclothes officers and shoved into waiting police vans. Some shouted: "Benazir for prime minister!" and flashed V-signs as they were driven off.

"Please tell me why I am being arrested. I have done nothing wrong," protested Naheed Hayat, a British-Pakistani who brought flowers, and said she hoped to stand the PPP in forthcoming elections.

Ms Rehman said the protest would start after Friday prayers, which are due to end around 2pm local time.

"We do not want bloodshed on the streets of Islamabad or Pakistan but they are pushing us to the wall," she said.

Bhutto officials said that prospects for a power sharing deal with General Musharraf, which had been under negotiation before, were extremely dim.

"I don't think there's any possibility of a conversation between my party and Pervez Musharraf," said party stalwart Abida Hussain. "He is by now a veteran liar because he will not separate himself from what he calls his second skin, his uniform."

But Ms Bhutto's party has made similar statements before, only to re-enter talks.

The government says the rally cannot go ahead partly due to the threat of an attack on Ms Bhutto. A suicide bombing during her homecoming rally on October 18 killed at least 140 people in Karachi.

Ms Rehman rejected the argument. "Security is the responsibility of the government. They say there are eight terrorists on the loose in Rawalpindi - well if they know about it, the details, so what have they done about it?" she said.