Ms Bhutto made the call yesterday after police mounted a huge security operation to stop a planned protest march in Lahore against emergency rule and placed her under house arrest for the second time in five days.

The authorities slapped a seven-day detention order on her, citing security fears, as they did last Friday to stop her leading an anti-Musharraf march in Rawalpindi.

Barbed wire encircled her house in an upmarket area of Lahore yesterday. Barricades, sandbags and containers added extra security to the presence of 1,000 police officers.

Ms Bhutto said it was now likely her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) would boycott the January elections. She also indicated that she wanted to build an alliance with other opposition leaders, including former premier Nawaz Sharif, to restore democracy.

She held phone talks with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan; Mr Qazi Hussain Ahmad, leader of Pakistan's main coalition of radical Islamist parties; as well as with a senior member of Mr Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

She also urged the world to abandon the President, seen by many in the West as vital to the 'war on terror'.

'It is over with Musharraf,' she told AFP in an interview from inside the house where she has been detained.

'General Musharraf must quit. He must quit as President and as chief of army staff. I call on the international community to stop backing him - to stop backing the man whose dictatorship threatens to engulf this nuclear-armed state in chaos.'

Gen Musharraf set off a storm of criticism when he imposed emergency rule on Nov 3, suspended the Constitution, sacked judges, locked up lawyers, rounded up thousands of activists and curbed the media.

The crisis has raised fears about stability in the country - a staunch United States ally - and concern about its ability to focus on battling a growing Islamist militancy.

'I would not serve as prime minister under a man who has repeatedly broken his promises, who is a dictator,' said Ms Bhutto, who had been in Western-backed power-sharing negotiations with Gen Musharraf.

'We gave him a roadmap for a peaceful transition but he has flouted that,' said the two-time former premier.

As Ms Bhutto spoke, about 100 cars carrying her supporters set off from this eastern city - defying the official ban - to press demands for an end to the emergency.

'There is a caravan of more than 100 cars heading out of Lahore. We are on our way,' said Mr Shah Mahmoud Qureshi, a PPP official.

In Karachi, angry Bhutto supporters fired gunshots at two police stations in a poor district of the city where the PPP is popular, senior police officer Fayyaz Khan said. No one was hurt.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry has banned the import of satellite dishes and equipment, more than a week after Pakistan blocked broadcasts by private news channels following the imposition of emergency rule.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE