LAHORE, PAKISTAN — Security forces placed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto under virtual house arrest early today as a crackdown on President Pervez Musharraf's opponents continued, a day after he bowed to enormous political pressure and pledged to hold parliamentary elections by mid-February.
Tensions and the threat of violent confrontation are likely to remain high. Bhutto vowed Thursday to press ahead with a rally planned today in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, outside Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, despite warnings from authorities that it would not be allowed and could come under attack by suicide bombers.
Police began taking up positions in Rawalpindi late Thursday in and around a park where the protest is planned, and by early today, the park's gates were chained and bolted shut.
Roads into the city had been blocked.
Hundreds of police officers surrounded Bhutto's house in Islamabad. Sen. Anwar Baig of the former prime minister's Pakistan People's Party came out of the house and told reporters that Bhutto was being "illegally confined."
Musharraf told state media Thursday that national and provincial balloting would take place by Feb. 15, a month later than the original deadline. But he set no date for removing his army chief uniform and becoming a civilian leader, a key demand of democracy activists.
"I have been saying for the last few months that elections will be held on schedule," Musharraf said after meeting with his National Security Council. "It was my commitment, and I am fulfilling it." Under Pakistan's Constitution, the latest possible date for the polls is in fact Feb. 15.
Musharraf's announcement came within hours of a call from President Bush urging him to call elections. It was, however, greeted with skepticism from Musharraf's critics and political foes, who noted that police were rounding up opposition party members even as he spoke. Thousands of lawyers, judges, human rights advocates and other dissidents have been arrested since Musharraf declared a state of emergency Saturday and assumed sweeping executive powers.
"This is a vague statement. We want an election date," said Bhutto, one of Musharraf's chief rivals.
"We want the uniform off by Nov. 15" -- a deadline set several years ago by a Pakistani law.
