The former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan was in hiding last night after escaping house arrest as President Musharraf defied an international outcry and crushed a second day of protests against emergency rule.

Mr Khan, who leads a small opposition party, issued a statement through his British ex-wife, Jemima, pledging to lead an underground movement against the emergency imposed on Saturday. “The police have ransacked my house and ill-treated my family members,” said Mr Khan, who is regarded as a national hero. “Our aim is to continue the struggle and mobilise the youth of the country from underground. This move of Musharraf’s will ignite militancy and extremism.”

The pledge came as the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto prepared to meet other opposition leaders in Islamabad today to discuss whether to join lawyers protesting against General Musharraf.

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was dismissed as Chief Justice on Saturday and is now under house arrest, urged lawyers to rise up against the President. He made his appeal in a mobile telephone conference that ended abruptly when the Government shut down part of the network in Islamabad. “Go to every corner of Pakistan and give the message that this is the time to sacrifice,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. God will help us and the day will come when you’ll see the Constitution supreme and no dictatorship for a long time.”

Bhutto was killed by bomb blast

The team from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command have backed the claim that Benazir Bhutto was not shot

Multimedia

• Pictures: death of Benazir Bhutto

• Pictures: Pakistan

Background

• Pakistan in turmoil as ‘martial law’ imposed

• Bhutto escapes as bombers kill 126

• Timeline: Pakistan's period of turmoil

• The man out to oust a President

• Internal crisis gives Pakistan reason for hope

Related Links

• ‘The police have ransacked my house and ill-treated my family’

• Pakistan's Path

Multimedia

• In depth coverage of Pakistan's crisis

Mr Chaudhry, one of nine judges dismissed for refusing to back the emergency, has been a figurehead for the opposition since General Musharraf’s failed attempt to dismiss him triggered the lawyers’ protests that snowballed into the current crisis. The President said he had imposed the emergency to stop the judiciary and the media impeding his campaign against Taleban and al-Qaeda militants.

Mr Chaudhry said that General Musharraf acted out of fear of an imminent Supreme Court ruling on the legality of his victory in an October 6 presidential election. Lawyers responded to Mr Chaudhry’s appeal with a second day of protests in several cities. About a thousand clashed with baton-wielding police outside a court in the central city of Multan and at least six people were injured,.

Another 50 lawyers were detained after police took over the High Court Bar Association in the eastern city of Lahore. Several more lawyers and police officers were hurt at a rally in the eastern city of Gujranwala and 300 lawyers protested peacefully in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Pro-Taleban fighters also took control of Matta, a northwestern town, flying flags from government buildings in the latest push by followers of a hardline Islamist cleric.

The Government, meanwhile, was meeting to discuss a schedule for parliamentary elections amid mounting international pressure to lift the emergency and rumours of a split between ministers. President Bush has led international calls for General Musharraf to release hundreds of opposition activists, step down as army chief and hold elections by January 15.

Pakistani officials dismissed the criticism yesterday, saying that the emergency was an internal matter and that they were discussing whether to delay the elections by up to three months. Ms Bhutto, however, alleged that the Government had already decided to delay the polls by one to two years. “They have not announced it as such, [but] I know this from the inside.”

Ms Bhutto flew to Islamabad yesterday for the first time since her return to Pakistan last month after eight years in self-imposed exile. She said that she would not meet General Musharraf.

Mr Khan accused her and the US of working behind the scenes to keep General Musharraf – a key US ally in the War on Terror – in power. America and Britain have been trying to broker a deal under which General Musharraf would step down as army chief and share power with Ms Bhutto, as Prime Minister.

Explore Asia News

• China News

Times Recommends

• Putin set to bait US with nuclear aid for Tehran
• North Korea ‘uses doubles to hide death of Kim’
• Academics label Charlie Wilson too 'gung-ho'