Musharraf, in Interview, Holds Firm on Crackdown

Pakistani students in Lahore demonstrate against the government and its ally, the United States, while Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte arrived for talks with Musharraf. (By K.m. Chaudary -- Associated Press)

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 16 -- President Pervez Musharraf said Friday that he had released hundreds of Pakistanis who had been detained under emergency rule, including former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, but he insisted that the threat from "suicide bombers and terrorists" has made the crackdown necessary.

Facing pressure to end the emergency measures he imposed two weeks ago, Musharraf said in an interview that he would tell U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte in upcoming meetings that "realities on the ground" in Pakistan prompted him to suspend civil liberties, place restrictions on the news media and arrest political opponents.

Among those opponents was Bhutto, who was barricaded in a house in Lahore on Tuesday just hours before a planned procession through the Punjab, the heartland of political power in Pakistan. Her detention was lifted Friday, as was that of Asma Jahangir, the high-profile leader of the country's Human Rights Commission. Bhutto has estimated that perhaps 7,000 people from her party alone have been arrested in recent days.

Musharraf, in the interview, dismissed Bhutto as "too confrontational." He also ruled out any further discussions over a U.S.-backed power-sharing agreement with her, saying that he was a "fighter" and would not take her challenge to him "lying down."

The president said he had restored transmission of several private television channels that had been blocked, although dozens of others remain off the air because employees have refused to sign Musharraf's new code of conduct for the media. The code threatens journalists with jail time if their coverage "ridicules" the president or other government officials.

Late Friday night, Musharraf shut down Pakistan's largest private television network, Geo, blocking all transmissions from the United Arab Emirates, where it had been broadcasting via satellite after emergency rule was imposed, company officials said; Geo refused to sign the code of conduct.

"Yes, I have let people out and let some stations back on. But anyone who breaks the law of the land will be back in jail or restricted," Musharraf warned in the interview at the presidential residence. "We don't want anyone in agitation mode, and I will tell Negroponte and the U.S. that Pakistan comes first, and there are certain realities on the ground -- extremism and terrorism -- that made me decide to go with emergency law."

Negroponte landed in Islamabad on Friday afternoon carrying what diplomats have said -- and what many Pakistanis hope -- is a stern message from the Bush administration. U.S. officials have said they want Musharraf to lift the emergency laws, release detainees and follow through on his promise to step down as head of the army.

Some political analysts said Musharraf's actions Friday, including the release of Bhutto, were an attempt to placate Negroponte while holding firm on emergency rule.

"I don't know whether Musharraf is throwing the U.S. a bone or what. But what's far more important for him in the long run is that he listens to Pakistani society and lifts the emergency and restores the judiciary," said Shireen M. Mazari, director of the Institute for Strategic Studies in Islamabad. "The U.S. needs to stop engineering politics in Pakistan, because what is going on here is not acceptable, and it's getting worse."

Parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 9 might be held with emergency restrictions on the news media and public gatherings still in place. Musharraf's critics say that would make a legitimate election impossible. The Pakistani leader disagreed vehemently, saying that the emergency rules were needed to ensure the "peaceful conduct of elections."

"If under the guise of emergency we put political leaders in jail, then yes, we are hampering elections. But that's not what is happening. We need emergency law for peaceful conduct of elections, so there won't be any violence and suicide bombings," he said.