LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) — Former premier Benazir Bhutto urged Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf to quit as president Tuesday as she sought to form a united front with other opposition leaders against the military ruler.
In her most direct challenge yet to Musharraf since he declared emergency rule, Bhutto said he was a failed leader whose time was up and vowed never to serve under him in government.
As international anger over the crisis mounted, the United States said it was sending Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to Pakistan later this week to press Musharraf to end emergency rule and hold free elections.
"First and foremost, the most important thing is for the country to return to its democratic path," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Holed up under house arrest with close aides in Lahore as more than 1,000 police guarded barbed wire barricades outside, Bhutto called on the world to abandon a leader seen by many in the West as key to the "war on terror".
"It is over with Musharraf," she told AFP in an interview from inside the residence, where she was slapped with a seven-day detention order to stop her leading a mass procession against emergency rule.
"General Musharraf must quit... I call on the international community to stop backing him -- to stop backing the man whose dictatorship threatens to engulf this nuclear-armed state in chaos."
Bhutto, who had been involved in Western-backed talks with Musharraf, said his November 3 imposition of emergency rule wrecked hopes of a power-sharing deal despite a promise of general elections by January 9.
"I would not serve as prime minister under a man who has repeatedly broken his promises, who is a dictator," Bhutto said.
"Look what he is giving to the nation -- imposing an emergency, suspending the constitution and cracking down on democratic forces. We gave him a roadmap for a peaceful transition but he has flouted that."
As Bhutto spoke, around 100 cars carrying her supporters set off from this eastern city -- defying an official ban -- to press demands for an end to the emergency.
Authorities had banned the rally and put Bhutto under house arrest citing security fears, as they did last Friday to prevent her leading a protest in Rawalpindi.
Double rolls of barbed wire surrounded all fours sides of the house in Lahore where she is staying. Wooden barricades, sandbags and heavy containers added extra layers of security.
Police arrested Bhutto supporters who tried to push through. Many shouted "Prime Minister Benazir" as they were shoved into prison vans.
From inside the house she moved to forge a coalition of opposition parties in an apparent bid to isolate Musharraf ahead of the elections.
She said she was ready for an alliance with another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, spoke with former cricket star Imran Khan and agreed with a key Islamist to launch a "joint struggle" against Musharraf.
"I want to build an alliance, a single point agenda for the restoration of democracy," she told reporters.
Sharif, still in exile in Saudi Arabia, welcomed her call for Musharraf to quit as a "positive development."
Bhutto also spoke with the leader of Pakistan's main coalition of radical Islamist parties and to the head of a small nationalist ethnic Pashtun party, in the first signs she could unite the country's fractious opposition.
The United States too called for talks among Pakistan's political leaders, Perino saying "we'll have to encourage continued dialogue between all of the parties there."
Meanwhile Pakistan's foreign ministry hit back at a Commonwealth deadline giving Musharraf until November 22 to end the state of emergency or have the country suspended from the 53-nation grouping.
Expressing its "deep disappointment and regret," it rejected the deadline and "demands that are based on lack of realism and understanding."
In a separate development, Musharraf moved to allay concerns about the safety of the nation's nuclear weapons amid the political turmoil.
"They are under total custodial controls," Musharraf told Fox News radio, citing security measures in place since 2000, according to a transcript of the interview released in the United States.
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