The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Lahore

Benazir Bhutto sought Wednesday to forge a united front against Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf as the United States pressed the increasingly isolated military ruler to end emergency rule. Bhutto, a two-time former premier, has begun reaching out to other leaders of the fractious opposition after breaking off with Musharraf, urging him to resign as president and vowing never to serve under him in government.

She remained under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore, where around 1,000 police maintained their security stranglehold around a residence surrounded by barbed wire and barricades.

Meanwhile Washington, which views Musharraf's Pakistan as a key ally in its "war on terror," is despatching John Negroponte, the deputy to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to Islamabad later this week.

Negroponte, who will be the highest-ranking US official to visit since the crisis erupted, will press for an end to the emergency. Interviewed by the New York Times and other newspapers, Musharraf rejected calls by Rice to rescind the measures, which he has indicated would continue until general elections promised by January 9.

"I totally disagree with her," Musharraf said. "The emergency is to ensure elections go in an undisturbed manner."