Bhutto in national unity government push

AP Photo: A Pakistani police officer in plainclothes opens fire at protesters during an anti-government rally

By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto urged fellow opposition leaders Thursday to join her in an alliance that could govern until elections, but Pakistan's embattled military leader gave no sign he might hand over power and named his own interim prime minister.

Emergency Rule to Continue in Pakistan ABC News

Bhutto speaks from behind barbed wire AP All news video

The proposal came on the eve of a visit by a top U.S. envoy who was coming to press President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule and free thousands of people detained for political activism and demonstrating.

Analysts were waiting for Musharraf's announcement Friday of a caretaker Cabinet to oversee parliamentary elections promised by Jan. 9. A lack of any members friendly to the opposition would intensify doubts about the fairness of the ballot and further fuel discontent.

One of the country's main Islamist parties called its first protests against the state of emergency Friday, adding the voice of factions opposed to Musharraf's alliance with the U.S. to the recent protests by lawyers, students and secular parties against military rule.

The turmoil deepened Thursday as two children and an adult were killed during a gunbattle between police and protesters in the southern city of Karachi — the first deaths during demonstrations since Musharraf suspended the constitution Nov. 3. Protests were reported in other cities and more party activists were arrested.

Bhutto outlined her plan for opposition factions to form a national unity interim government that could supplant Musharraf's administration during a telephone interview with The Associated Press, and the idea was quickly supported by her longtime political rival, Nawaz Sharif.

But Sharif said they weren't in a position to form an acting government unless Musharraf was removed from office. Bhutto indicated a need for a voluntary transfer of power, saying she shared Washington's concern about a power vacuum should the general be ousted.

Sharif, who like Bhutto is a former prime minister, said the opposition's priority should be reinstatement of Supreme Court judges removed by Musharraf. Independent-minded judges blocked some of his moves this year, and many people suspect Musharraf feared the court would overturn his re-election as president last month by legislators. READ MORE