President Gen. Pervez Musharraf insists he called the week-old emergency to help fight Islamic extremists who control large swathes of territory near the Afghan border, but the main targets of his crackdown have been his most outspoken critics, including the increasingly independent courts and media.
Thousands of people have been arrested, TV news stations taken off air, and judges removed.
The government - under mounting pressure from the U.S. and other Western allies to restore democracy in the nation of 160 million people
- has announced that parliamentary elections initially slated for January would be held no later than Feb. 15.
And Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum told The Associated Press on Saturday that the state of emergency would "end within one month." He provided no further details and would not say when a formal announcement might come.
Security forces threw a cordon around Bhutto's villa in an upscale neighborhood of the capital Friday, and rounded up thousands of her supporters to prevent a planned demonstration against the crackdown. She was allowed to leave her home 24 hours later, meeting first with party colleagues and then addressing a small journalists' protest.
But dozens of helmeted police blocked her white, bulletproof Land Cruiser when she tried to visit Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the independent-minded chief justice who was removed from his post following Musharraf's state of emergency.
Through a loudspeaker, Bhutto said Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants were gaining ground in the country's turbulent northwest. She also said Musharraf's military-led government was about to crumble.
"This government is standing on its last foot," she said, as dozens of supporters scuffled briefly with police. "This government is going to go."
Some U.S. officials have expressed concern that Pakistan's political crisis would distract its government from efforts to quash a growing militant threat
- the country also has been hit by a series of deadly suicide bombings, including one Oct. 18 targeting Bhutto.
NATO said Saturday insurgents had killed six American troops in eastern Afghanistan.
But the Bush administration continues to describe Musharraf as an "indispensable" ally against extremists, suggesting it is unlikely to yield to calls from some lawmakers in Washington for cuts in its generous aid to Pakistan, much of it to the powerful military.
Just a few weeks ago, Bhutto and Musharraf were discussing the possibility of forming a pro-West alliance against militants, and her return last month following eight years in exile came after he agreed to drop corruption charges against her.
