PAKISTAN:Benazir Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf were headed for a fresh showdown last night as the opposition leader vowed to press ahead with a "long march" across Punjab province today even as the government promised to thwart it.
Facing threats of police baton charges, arrest and rumoured suicide bombers, the march was touted as a slow-moving motor caravan from Lahore to Islamabad.
But last night the deputy information minister, Tariq Azim, said the march, which could take up to four days, would not be allowed.
"All processions, rallies, political gatherings are at present outlawed. So if she breaks the law then obviously she will not be allowed to do it," he said.
Prospects are dwindling for an early end to the emergency rule imposed by Gen Musharraf nine days ago. On Sunday, he said the heavy-handed rule may still be in place when elections take place in early January.
Two major opposition parties threatened to boycott the poll yesterday while Ms Bhutto said power-sharing negotiations had been suspended.
She called on supporters young and old to join her on the 296km (184 miles) journey today. "I know it is dangerous," she said during a flying visit to the tomb of the national poet, Allama Iqbal, in Lahore. "But I ask myself, what is the alternative and how can we save our country?"
As Commonwealth officials considered their response to events in Pakistan, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called for emergency rule to be terminated: "I would hope that the Pakistani government would do more, including the lifting of emergency measures as well as release detained political leaders," he said.
Threats against Ms Bhutto could be a pretext for putting her under house arrest again.
Senior Lahore police official Ayaz Salim said police had swept all the city's hotels in search of suicide bombers after receiving intelligence of an impending attack. Another 200 officers ringed the house where Ms Bhutto was staying, with snipers perched on rooftops and visitors carefully screened.
A journey across Punjab also means confrontation with Ms Bhutto's old rival, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who is one of Gen Musharraf's top political lieutenants and whose home area straddles the route. Last night local television reported that Bhutto activists were being rounded up in towns along the way.
Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League party and the Islamist Jamaat Islami have threatened to boycott the January election, saying it will be meaningless unless emergency rule is lifted.
There were reports that police were intending to detain Ms Bhutto for seven days early this morning, just hours before she was due to lead a mass protest against Gen Musharraf's emergency rule. "We have sent the notice inside and we have not yet got a reply," Lahore police chief Aftab Cheema told reporters at barriers blocking access to the house where Ms Bhutto is staying.
A party official confirmed the detention order had been served.
The detention comes hours before Ms Bhutto was due to begin the so-called "long march" to demand an end to emergency rule and the release of thousands of detained lawyers.