No more talks with Musharraf: Benazir

Pakistan government yesterday banned opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from holding a protest rally against emergency rule and said it may place her under effective house arrest.
Benazir earlier ruled out any power-sharing talks with President Pervez Musharraf,
About 150 police deployed around the residence where she is staying in the eastern city of Lahore, according to AFP reporters.
The two-time former premier had earlier vowed to press ahead with a "long march" today from Lahore to the capital Islamabad, brushing off warnings of possible attacks.
"I know it is dangerous but what alternatives are there?" she said.
Deputy information minister Tariq Azeem however said authorities would not allow it to go ahead.
"She will not be allowed to break the law so there will be no long march," he told AFP, referring to a ban on political gatherings.
"Long marches, rallies and political meetings are banned in Punjab province. This is for her security. There could also be a restraint order," Azeem said.
Suicide bombers killed 139 people at a Benazir parade in Karachi on October 18, and Lahore's police chief said there was a specific warning of a possible attack at the planned march.
Police had cited security risks for placing Benazir under house arrest last Friday, preventing her leading a rally in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.
She earlier ruled out power-sharing talks with President Pervez Musharraf, who declared a state of emergency on November 3, sparking international concern and protests from Pakistan's legal community.
Speaking against a backdrop of Lahore's 16th century Badshahi mosque, Benazir said elections Musharraf has promised by January 9 could be neither free nor fair if held under emergency rule.
"We are saying no to any more talks," she told reporters. "We cannot work with anyone who has suspended the constitution, imposed emergency rule, and oppressed the judiciary. That's why we are holding the 'long march'."
The United States and Britain had quietly supported talks on power-sharing in an attempt to unite two pro-Western leaders in the battle against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
Benazir, whose party is the largest opposition group in Pakistan, also said she was considering boycotting the election.
Musharraf announced Sunday that parliament would be dissolved Thursday to pave the way for polls on a date to be set by an election commission.
It cheered the Karachi stock exchange, which rose 1.75 percent after last week suffering its heaviest fall.
Musharraf's announcement met a key demand of his critics both at home and abroad. It was cautiously welcomed by the United States and Britain, although they both also demanded an immediate end to emergency rule.
The military ruler has indicated the state of emergency would continue "to ensure absolutely fair and transparent elections."
A vital US ally in the "war on terror", he has been under intense pressure to end emergency rule since suspending the constitution and sacking Pakistan's chief justice.
Further pressure came from the Commonwealth, whose action group convened in London to consider whether to suspend Pakistan, as it did for five years when Musharraf seized power in a coup in 1999.
Michael Frendo, the Maltese foreign minister who chairs the committee, said a suspension was one option but there were other possible sanctions too.
"We will look at the facts, not at the promises," he told reporters.
Meanwhile Pakistan's attorney general, Malik Muhammad Qayyum, said the new Supreme Court would likely resume its hearings next week on challenges against Musharraf's re-election as president last month.
They argue he was ineligible to stand while still army chief, and that the vote should not have been held by the outgoing parliament but by the incoming federal and provincial assemblies.
Musharraf has said he will only quit as head of the powerful army -- a key demand of the international community -- once the top court has validated his victory.
Moreover, a group of Commonwealth foreign ministers gathered in London yesterday to discuss possible sanctions against Pakistan, as a senior figure called for an immediate end to emergency rule.
Despite President Pervez Musharraf's announcement Sunday that elections would be held by January 9, the chairman of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group said constitutional rule should be reimposed before any vote.
"The return to constitutionality must be accompanied by free and fair elections," Malta's Foreign Minister Michael Frendo told BBC radio, describing the current situation in Pakistan as "flawed."
Senior diplomats from nine Commonwealth countries -- Britain, Canada, Lesotho, Malaysia, Malta, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania -- that currently make up CMAG were to discuss what action to take later Monday.