Benazir Bhutto threatened President Musharraf with a popular uprising unless he lifted the country’s state of emergency within six days.

As international pressure on General Musharraf mounted, Ms Bhutto, the former Prime Minister, pledged to hold a rally tomorrow in defiance of the emergency measures imposed on Saturday.

She also threatened to stage a protest march from the eastern city of Lahore to Islamabad on November 13 if General Musharraf had not met her demands by then.

“I appeal to the people of Pakistan to come forward ... the country is in danger,” Ms Bhutto, 54, told a news conference after talks with other opposition leaders in Islamabad. “God willing, there will be a flood of people. If I am arrested, people should continue the struggle.”

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

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

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She demanded that General Musharraf restore the constitution, step down as army chief and commit to holding parliamentary elections by January 15, as originally planned.

Her ultimatum appeared to set her on a collision course with the General, who seized power in a coup in 1999 and has been one of the United States’ key allies in the War on Terror.

But Ms Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan last month after eight years’ self-imposed exile, left a door open for the President, saying that they could resume negotiations once her demands were met.

That led some analysts to accuse her of playing a double game, appearing to join the lawyers’ protests against him, while holding out for a power-sharing deal.

“She doesn’t want people to think there’s a deal. She wants to give the impression that she’s forced him into agreeing to an election,” said Najam Sethi, editor of the Daily Times.

“Her party has been conspicuously absent from the protests so far, so it was time she lent some credibility to herself.” After the news conference, about 300 of her supporters marched up to the phalanxes of riot police blocking streets leading to Parliament.

Waving placards bearing Ms Bhutto’s portrait, they chanted “Go Musharraf Go!” and “Benazir! Benazir!” but dispersed after less than an hour when police fired a handful of tear gas shells.

“We want to end the dictatorship. We want Musharraf to go now,” said Sumaira Gul, a member of Ms Bhutto’s Pakistan People's Party (PPP) who joined the protest.

“We want thousands and thousands of people to come and join us,” she said.

It was the first time that the PPP - the biggest opposition party - had joined protests against the emergency, which have been led since Monday by lawyers loyal to the sacked chief justice.

The demonstration coincided with a parliament vote on the emergency, which was endorsed unanimously by pro-government lawmakers.

Meanwhile, the United States gave warning that its patience was not “never-ending” and urged Pakistani officials to lift the emergency in “the next several days”.

“They need to release the people that they’ve arrested, they need to stop beating people in the streets, they need to restore press freedom and they need to get back on the path to democracy soon - now,” said Gordon Johndroe, a US national security council spokesman.

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