Caretaker government for Pakistan

President Musharraf has said he is committed to holding elections

President Pervez Musharraf has been meeting aides to finalise a caretaker government to take Pakistan into elections due in January.

The national assembly's term expires on Thursday. However, Gen Musharraf's term as president has been extended under his emergency rule.

Opposition parties are threatening to boycott the elections, saying they will not be free and fair.

Meanwhile the reformed Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to the emergency.

The court is also due to rule on whether Gen Musharraf's re-election as president last month was legal.

Correspondents say he is expected to win both cases after changing the make-up of the court when he declared the emergency on 3 November, sacking several judges who had shown judicial independence.

US pressure

Gen Musharraf has reiterated promises that he will resign as head of the army before taking his oath of office for his next term as president.

Lawyers have led protests against the state of emergency

United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is due in Pakistan this week to urge Gen Musharraf to lift the state of emergency and hold free elections, US officials say.

In a series of interviews with the foreign media on Wednesday, Gen Musharraf insisted he was not a dictator and that he was the man to lead the country back to democracy.

The emergency rule was necessary in order to hold "peaceful, free and fair elections", the president said in an interview with the French newspaper, Le Monde.

He went on to say that politicians in detention in Pakistan would be released to take part fully in elections.

But he warned that if they caused trouble or broke the law, the authorities would act against them.

Under arrest

Opposition politician Imran Khan was arrested on Wednesday after making his first public appearance since emergency rule was declared.

The former cricketer was detained after going to the University of Punjab in Lahore to address a protest by students against Gen Musharraf.

On Tuesday, Mr Khan said there should be no negotiations with Gen Musharraf.

He told the BBC he had agreed with ex-PM Benazir Bhutto, who is under house arrest, that the parliamentary election due to be held by mid-January would be meaningless if the state of emergency was not lifted.

The US Consul -general in Lahore, Brian Hunt, visited Ms Bhutto on Thursday. Afterwards he told journalists: "We need to move as rapidly as possible to have free and fair elections held on time."

Ms Bhutto has called for the president to step down, saying the Pakistani people had lost confidence in his ability to steer the country towards democracy.

She has been in contact with rival former-PM Nawaz Sharif, who is in exile in Saudi Arabia, on the possibility of uniting against Gen Musharraf, her party says.

In October Gen Musharraf signed an amnesty that cleared Ms Bhutto of corruption charges. The amnesty did not cover Mr Sharif.

Media restrictions

The government has eased restrictions on television news.

Cable distributors have been allowed to resume transmissions of international services from the BBC and CNN.

National broadcasters Dawn and Aaj are also back on screens in the country. But Geo TV and ARYOne are still blocked.