Meet fails to decide on poll schedule

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said he would chair a Cabinet meeting to try and hammer out a timeline, but stressed that an agreement still needed to be reached on how to hold elections “in a smooth, transparent and peaceful manner.”

Thousands have turned out to protest the state of emergency, but demonstrations so far have been limited largely to opposition activists, rights workers and lawyers. There does not appear to be a groundswell of popular resistance and all the rallies have been quickly and sometimes brutally stamped out.

Hundreds of lawyers, angered by Musharraf’s attacks on the judiciary, defied a stepped-up security presence on Tuesday and demonstrated again, some chanting “Musharraf Go!” as they wound through the narrow streets of the Islamabad. Others yelled “Musharraf is a criminal. We will not accept uniforms or bullets!” and “Traitor!”