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Pakistan: Bhutto sez she will not meet Musharraf
 Karachi- Former Pakistani prime minister and leader of the largest opposition party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), said on Tuesday that she would not negotiate with President Pervez Musharraf.Before boarding a flight to Islamabad, the PPP leader told reporters that she had no intention of meeting Musharraf who declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday. However she said she would address a planned rally in Rawalpindi on 9 November. She was traveling to Islamabad to attend a meeting of opposition parties. Bhutto returned to Pakistan last month after eight years of self-imposed exile. She was believed to have been in power-sharing talks with Musharraf. Musharraf declared the state of emergency on Saturday saying that the country needed to curb extremism. He suspended the constitution and sacked the country's chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, who is under house arrest. Television channels in the country have also been blacked out. Soon after the imposition of emegency rule, Bhutto said the suspension of the constitution was "undemocratic" and that it would only encourage Islamic extremists. Reports say that dozens more people were arrested on Tuesday as part of the government crackdown on pro-democracy activists. Clashes were also reported between the police and protesters. As many as 2,500 lawyers in Pakistan were arrested on Monday for protesting against the imposition of emergency rule. Chaudhry addressed lawyers in Islamabad by telephone and called on them to "rise up" and restore the constitution. Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-11-06 |
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