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Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (L) waves to her supporters as she arrives at the party secretariat to attend a meeting in Islamabad November 7, 2007. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto threatened on Wednesday to lead a mass protest march to the capital unless President Pervez Musharraf quits as army chief, holds elections and restores the constitution.

Bhutto, leader of the largest opposition party and the politician most capable of mobilising street power, gave Musharraf until Friday to comply.

Government officials have said national elections due in January will be held on time and a member of Musharraf's inner circle said emergency rule was likely to be lifted within 2 or 3 weeks.

But Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and imposed emergency rule last Saturday citing a hostile judiciary and rising militancy, has not yet personally confirmed either.

"We can't work for dictatorship. We can work for democracy," Bhutto told a news conference in Islamabad after meeting members of her Pakistan People's Party and smaller opposition parties.

"General Musharraf can open the door for negotiations only if he revives the constitution, retires as chief of army staff and sticks to the schedule of holding elections."

She said her supporters would begin to march on Nov. 13 from the eastern city of Lahore, capital of Punjab province and the nation's political nerve-centre, to Islamabad to stage a sit-in.

"The ball is now in government's court," said Bhutto.

Her party is also due to hold a public protest rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, next to Islamabad, on Nov. 9 -- which police said would be blocked.

Bhutto, with Musharraf's blessing, returned to Pakistan from almost eight years of self-imposed exile on Oct. 18, amid speculation that she could end up sharing power with him after elections, forging a partnership favoured by the United States.

COURTS DESERTED

Police have arrested hundreds of lawyers and opposition figures and supporters since Saturday, and courts remained virtually deserted across Pakistan on Wednesday in a boycott by lawyers angry at the crackdown.

The main reason for imposing emergency rule and suspending the constitution appears to have been the removal of judges who appeared hostile to the government, analysts say.

The Supreme Court had been hearing challenges to the legality of Musharraf's Oct. 6 re-election by parliament while still army chief, and fears the decision could have gone against the general were believed to have been the main motive for his move.

The only public protests of any size so far have been led by lawyers, outraged by the dismissal of independent-minded judges such as ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who is being held incommunicado at his residence in Islamabad.

As arrests have mounted lawyers' protests have become smaller and more subdued. Fewer than a dozen men wearing black waistcoats over their shalwar kameez marched toward the High Court in Lahore on Wednesday chanting "Go Musharraf Go", before being pummelled and detained by plain clothes security officials.

INTERNATIONAL OUTRAGE

Announcing the emergency and suspension of the constitution, the general said he was being hampered by a hostile judiciary while fighting rising militancy and asked in vain for Western allies' understanding.

The United States and Britain were joined by the 27-nation European Union in urging Musharraf to release all political detainees, including members of the judiciary, relax media curbs, and seek reconciliation with political opponents.

The EU said Musharraf should stick to a pledge to step down as army chief this month and hold elections in January.

The Commonwealth, a 53-nation group of mainly former British colonies, called a special ministerial meeting in London next week to discuss the state of emergency in Pakistan.

However the Karachi stock market, which fell 4.6 percent on Monday, has since stabilised thanks to perceived low prices and a boost to oil stocks from international crude prices.

The market is still up around 34 percent since the start of the year, but has come off around 10 percent amid deepening political uncertainty since scaling historic highs on Oct. 22.

Washington has said it will review aid to Pakistan, which has reached nearly $10 billion since the Sept. 11 attacks.

But it has yet to come up with a clear stance for dealing with a nuclear-armed country which is on the front line in the battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

A White House spokeswoman said President George W. Bush had not telephoned Musharraf since he imposed emergency rule and described the general's act as "a mistake".

Critics of Musharraf's decision to declare emergency rule say he may have made Pakistan more unstable.

(Reporting by Kamran Haider, Simon Gardner and Zeeshan Haider in ISLAMABAD and Sahar Ahmed in KARACHI)