Pakistan is braced for a showdown today between President Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister, as thousands of her supporters try to stage a rally in defiance of emergency rule.

General Musharraf, who introduced the emergency on Saturday, tried to defuse the mounting domestic and international outcry by promising parliamentary elections by February 15.

A few hours after speaking with President Bush he also pledged to retire as army chief once the Supreme Court, newly stacked with loyalists, endorsed his victory in a presidential election last month.

“There is no doubt in my mind that elections must be held, and it has been calculated that elections must be held before the 15th of February 2008,” he said on state television.

Britain and the United States, which back him as a crucial ally in the War on Terror, welcomed the announcement of an election date – although it was originally due by January 15.

“We think it is a good thing that President Musharraf has clarified the election date for the Pakistani people,” Dana Perino, a White House spokes-woman, said.

Ms Bhutto dismissed the announcement as insufficient and vowed to press ahead with plans to lead her supporters on to the streets of Rawalpindi, a garrison town near Islamabad, today.

“We want an exact election date, schedule of elections and a clear date of Musharraf hanging up his uniform,” she told reporters. “We want him to hang up his uniform by November 15.”

Ms Bhutto has also threatened to lead a protest motorcade from the eastern city of Lahore to Islamabad on November 13 if General Musharraf does not meet her demands.

Today’s rally could increase the political crisis because it will be first time that the Pakistan People’s Party, the biggest opposition party, has joined protests against the emergency in earnest. The authorities are expected widely to prevent Ms Bhutto and many of her supporters from reaching the venue, saving both sides from a potentially bloody confrontation.

Police have given warning that eight suicide bombers plan to target the rally, three weeks after a suicide bomb killed 139 people at a welcoming procession for Ms Bhutto in Karachi.

Some analysts are also sceptical about Ms Bhutto’s commitment to confront General Musharraf, accusing her of secretly trying to negotiate a power-sharing deal.

America and Britain have been trying to broker such a deal to give the Pakistani Government a broader popular mandate to combat Islamist militants.

“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,” Najam Sethi, Editor of the Daily Times, said. “Her party has been conspicuously absent from the protests so far, so it’s time she lent some credibility to herself.”

Nevertheless, the Government preempted the rally by rounding up activists from Ms Bhutto’s party.

The PPP said that about 800 activists had been arrested, while the police put the number at 150.

Four others arrested on Monday could now face the death penalty because they were charged with treason for making speeches criticising General Musharraf in Karachi.

Police in Karachi were also trying to arrest eight lawyers on treason charges for distributing antiMusharraf leaflets.

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