Bhutto put under house arrest ahead of protest march

LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, in an interview with Sky News on Tuesday, called on President Pervez Musharraf to step down as president.

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was placed under house arrest Monday, a day ahead of a planned march protesting President Pervez Musharraf's declared state of emergency.

While Bhutto has called on Musharaff to step down as military leader, it was the first time she demanded he step down as president.

Police have declared Bhutto's house in Lahore a "subjail" and sent jail staff to monitor the situation. Several hundred police officers were surrounding the house Monday, allowing no one in or out of the property. Bhutto is refusing to acknowledge her house arrest, however.

When police arrived to serve the former prime minister with the house arrest warrant, they were told she was not available to sign it, police said.

Critics see the emergency as an attempt by Musharraf -- who seized power in a 1999 coup and promised to restore democracy -- to strengthen his grip over the nuclear-armed country amid calls for him to quit as army chief.

In London, the Commonwealth on Monday gave Pakistan a 10-day deadline to restore its constitution and lift other emergency measures or face suspension from the 53-nation grouping.

The decision came after an extraordinary meeting in London of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which deals with serious breaches of the Commonwealth's guiding principles.

Secretary-General Don McKinnon said that Pakistan had "seriously violated the Commonwealth's fundamental values", according a statement on the Commonwealth Secretariat Web site.

While the action group has welcomed the announcement by General Musharraf that parliamentary elections would be held before January 9, 2008, it stressed the elections would not be credible unless the state of emergency is lifted.

Pakistan was previously suspended from the Commonwealth in 1999, after Musharraf seized power, but it was reinstated in 2004.

Meanwhile, an international think tank issued also issued a report Monday calling on Pakistan's allies to impose graduated sanctions against the country.

As opposition to emergency rule gathered pace in Pakistan, government sources told CNN that she could be placed under house arrest to prevent her staging a three-day march from the city of Lahore to Islamabad on Tuesday.

They indicated there could be a danger to Bhutto, who was targeted by a deadly suicide bomb attack on October 18 in Karachi as supporters greeted her return from a self-imposed exile.

The former prime minister -- also barred from joining a major opposition protest on Friday -- on Monday ruled out a power-sharing deal with Musharraf, a move rumored since he waived corruption charges that had forced her to quit the country. Watch why her appeal is mixed »

In a news conference on Sunday, Musharraf restated his vow to step down as military chief once a newly installed Supreme Court approves his third term in office. His opponents say the previous court would have ruled against him.

The U.S., which views Muslim Pakistan as a key ally in its battle against al Qaeda-linked extremism, welcomed Musharraf's vote pledge but renewed calls for the emergency to be lifted.

Under emergency rule, thousands of Musharraf's critics have been locked up while rallies have been banned and independent TV networks blacked out.

The president has also widened powers allowing civilians to be tried in army courts for offenses such as treason and inciting public unrest.

A report from Brussels-based International Crisis Group -- titled "Winding Back Martial Law in Pakistan" -- denounces the United States and Britain for supporting Musharraf while offering limited criticism of his state of emergency, which the report says amounts to martial law.

"The focus [of the United States and Britain] has been on the need for Musharraf to remove his [military] uniform and conduct elections -- not on the necessity of restoring the constitutional order and the rule of law," the ICG report states.

"The mistakes of the international response in the past to Pakistan are being repeated."

Washington fears that if Musharraf is removed from office, a power vacuum may be created in the nuclear nation that would empower the extremists that have set up a safe haven in Pakistan's tribal regions.

But the ICG report roundly criticizes Musharraf for doing little to halt the rise of extremist groups in Pakistan during his eight years in power. E-mail to a friend

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