Bhutto Released

"We do not accept the curbs on the media and we demand that the government immediately withdraw brutal restrictions that have been imposed," Bhutto said in Islamabad, amid a continuing blackout of news channels on the country's cable networks.

Bhutto also called upon journalists, lawyers' associations, trade unionists and civil society organizations to join her in opposition to the military regime of Musharraf, an army general who came to power in 1999.

"Our country is passing through dark times and we have mounted a united struggle against dictatorship," she told around 200 chanting media workers gathered in front of the offices of one of the affected channels.

Despite having confined Bhutto to her Islamabad house on Friday, thereby thwarting her plans to lead a mass rally, law enforcers made no moves to prevent her from addressing the journalists.

Bhutto urges Merkel for support

She spoke to German mass-circulation tabloid Bild on Friday in a bid to secure Germany's support for her campaign against Musharraf. "Chancellor Merkel should exert pressure on Musharraf," Bhutto told Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper. "We demand the immediate resignation of President Musharraf as head of the military and a clear timetable for elections."

Referring to Merkel's visit to US President George W. Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas later Friday, Bhutto added: "Chancellor, please inform President Bush that the people want democracy in Pakistan and not the empty promises that President Musharraf makes to us."

The German government immediately called on Musharraf to release Bhutto from house arrest, along with the political activists detained in recent days. "We call on the Pakistani leadership also to reverse the numerous arrests of political activists," Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said in Berlin.

Bundestag condemns crackdown on opposition

Bundestag members condemned the detention of opposition supporters and members of the judiciary, warning Musharraf's actions were playing into the hands of Islamists.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the declaration of a state of emergency was a "severe blow" not only to democracy but also a threat to long-term stability of Pakistan. He added that Germany would re-examine its arms exports to Pakistan and would also restrict economic assistance to projects which solely benefit the population.

Bhutto demands the restoration of the constitution and the release of thousands of political detainees rounded up by security forces since the emergency measures were introduced a week earlier.

Despite months of covert talks with Musharraf towards a suspected deal that would bolster his political support while bringing her back into government, there is speculation of a real and widening rift behind her trademark rhetoric against the US-backed military leader.

Bhutto has said her dialogue with Musharraf was suspended when he suspended the constitution and dissolved the Supreme Court.

International pressure on Musharraf grows

But as international pressure grows on Musharraf's government to restore democratic rule in Pakistan, a senior official said Saturday emergency measures were likely to be lifted in a few weeks.

"The law and order situation is fast improving, and if the trend continued the state of emergency will be lifted by the middle or the end of the next month," the country's Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum told private news channel Geo.

"We do not want to make it a permanent feature of our government," Qayyum told other broadcasters.

Musharraf announced authoritarian rule largely on the grounds that it would stem rising Islamic militancy in Pakistan, particularly in the volatile tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. But many believe the main objective of the measure was to prevent the judiciary from ruling against his re-election for the next week by deposing all but four judges of the Supreme Court.