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Dubai: The Pakistan government sought to allay criticism of its moves against its opponents yesterday, allowing former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to leave her villa after a day of house arrest and announcing plans to lift its state of emergency within a month.
Bhutto appeared unbowed by her brief detention and announced plans to defy a ban on public gatherings and lead her supporters on a 300-km march this week. "Our struggle is not only for media freedom but also for the independence of the judiciary, supremacy of the constitution and restoration of rights of the people of Pakistan," she told a rally of some 200 journalists.
Yesterday, three reporters from Britain's Daily Telegraph were ordered to leave Pakistan for an editorial that allegedly insulted Musharraf.
Meanwhile, Attorney-General Malek Mohammad Qayyum told The Associated Press that the state of emergency would "end within one month" but provided no further details.
In Islamabad, dozens of helmeted police blocked Bhutto's car when she tried to visit Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the chief justice who was removed from his post following Musharraf's state of emergency.
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