Also stepping up pressure on the President is the United States administration, which is sending Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to urge General Musharraf to rescind emergency rule.

Staunch US ally Gen Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, plunged the nuclear-armed country into crisis on Nov 3 when he declared emergency rule, suspended the Constitution and detained thousands of opposition politicians, activists and lawyers.

Ms Bhutto had been in power-sharing talks with Gen Musharraf for months. She returned to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile last month, aiming to work with him on a transition to civilian rule.

But outraged by the latest turn of events, she has said that talks with Gen Musharraf were over and, for the first time, called on him to step down as President as well as army chief.

From Lahore, where she has been under house arrest since Tuesday, Ms Bhutto, who heads Pakistan's biggest opposition group, has spoken with nine leading political opponents of Gen Musharraf in the past two days, a senior party aide said.

Ms Bhutto telephoned old rivals, including Islamist alliance leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed and aides of exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, to urge a 'coalition of interests', party officials said.

She also spoke with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, whom police detained yesterday when he emerged from hiding, said Mr Latif Khosa, a Bhutto aide.

Seeking to isolate Gen Musharraf, they are hoping to reach agreement on an all-parties conference, possibly as early as next week.

'She's trying to unite all political parties on a minimum agenda to return the country to true democracy,' Mr Khosa said. 'The minimum agenda is the ouster of Gen Musharraf and formation of a neutral government of national consensus to organise free and fair elections.'

Gen Musharraf, facing growing pressure from allies and rivals to put Pakistan back on a path to democracy, said at the weekend that general elections would be held by Jan 9. But he did not say when the Constitution would be restored or the emergency lifted.

In an interview with Britain's Sky News yesterday, he said he had considered resigning over the political crisis but felt he was the man to lead Pakistan into democracy.

'When there is no turmoil in Pakistan, I will step down,' the Sky News website quoted him as saying. 'I am not a dictator, I want democracy.'

Sky, the last foreign news channel available on cable in Pakistan, went off the air soon after broadcasting that interview.

Gen Musharraf's actions have been widely condemned by Western governments.

Mr Negroponte, who last week warned against cutting aid to an 'indispensable' ally, is expected to arrive in Pakistan tomorrow.

But Gen Musharraf has already rejected a call from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to end the emergency.

'I totally disagree with her,' he said. 'The emergency is to ensure elections go in an undisturbed manner.'

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS