3 U.K. Journalists Kicked Out Of Pakistan

Three reporters from Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper have been ordered to leave Pakistan in the next 72 hours for an editorial the paper ran that used an expletive in an allusion about President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, an official said Saturday.

The three - Isambard Wilkinson, Collin Freeman and Daniel Macelroy - were the first reporters ordered out of Pakistan since Musharraf imposed emergency rule a week ago.

Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim said they were being thrown out for an unsigned editorial in Friday's paper that used the expletive.

The piece titled "Bankrupt Relationship" criticizes the bond the U.S. and Britain shares with Pakistan's military leader:

"In the old parlance, General Pervez Musharraf is "our sonofa-----." He has failed to stamp out extremist groups and close the madrassas that inspire them. He has allowed the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to fall into the hands of assorted jihadis. And he has sacked independent-minded judges for fear that the Supreme Court declare illegal his re-election as president last month.

"Yet, despite this combination of incompetence and brutality, America and Britain continue to back him as head of what has a strong claim to be the most dangerous country in the world. …

"Valued as an ally after 9/11, he is now part of the problem. Under his dictatorship, Pakistan has become an increasingly ungovernable country in which moderate, secular forces have been sidelined to the advantage of the Islamists."

Musharraf cited a growing threat from Islamic militants and political instability for his emergency order. He has since put a stranglehold on the media, taking most domestic and international news channels off the air, including CNN and BBC.

He has also threatened journalists who criticize his government or the army with up to three years in jail.

The three expelled on Saturday were the first foreign reporters to be targeted under the emergency.

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.

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. But 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.

Speaking through a loudspeaker, Bhutto said Taliban and al Qaeda-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 actually distract its 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.

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.

Bhutto has left open the possibility of re-entering talks with the army chief, including on her wish to serve a third term as prime minister, but such prospects have been dimmed by recent restrictions on her movement and her increasingly tough-talk.

Bhutto's aides said she would meet Saturday night with foreign diplomats to discuss the political crisis.

She said Saturday she was still determined to go ahead with a 185 mile march Tuesday from the city of Lahore to Islamabad.

"To get Pakistan from the clutches of dictatorship, we are organizing a long march," Bhutto said. "I request ... all segments of the population to join us in the struggle for democracy. When the masses combine, the sound of their steps will suppress the sound of military boots."

Many critics say the main goal of Musharraf's emergency was to pre-empt a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of his victory in a presidential election last month. Under the constitution, public servants cannot run for office.

Qayyum, the attorney general, said the court - now purged of its more independent-minded justices - would swear in more judges in the next two or three days, bringing it up to the strength required to restart hearings in the case.

Musharraf says he will quit his post as army chief and rule as a civilian once the court has confirmed his re-election, but set no date for that step.