Bhutto pressure brings forward election date

Pakistan's National Assembly and provincial assemblies will be dissolved in the coming days in order that a general election can take place before January 9th, President Pervez Musharraf said today.

Having declared emergency rule and suspended the constitution a week ago, the country's embattled military leader said he was intent on keeping Pakistan on a path to democracy.

The National Assembly would be dissolved on November 15th and the four provincial assemblies on November 20th.

"This is history, ladies and gentlemen, because this is the first time all the assemblies will have completed their terms," Gen Musharraf said in a news conference broadcast on state-television.

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto yesterday described Pakistan as a pressure cooker about to explode, after the government ordered three British journalists out of the country.

Last week private news channels were forced off the air and transmissions of BBC and CNN were blocked.

President Musharraf has sacked most of the country's judges, put senior ones under house arrest. Police have also rounded up most of the opposition leadership.

While calling for Pakistan to return to a path of democracy after Gen Musharraf invoked emergency powers a week ago and suspended the constitution. The move attracted international condemnation. 

On Thursday he bowed to the pressure from both Ms Bhutto and the international community and agreed to step down as head of the military and hold elections on February 15th.

Today's revised date indicates Ms Bhutto's powerful negotiating position. She had said February was too late for elections.

She had been holding power-sharing talks with Gen Musharraf for months and political analysts say cooperation between the pair is still possible.

She was placed under house arrest on Friday to prevent her from attending a rally but the order was later lifted and she announced she would attend a rally on Tuesday.