Pakistani authorities on Friday ended the house arrest of former premier Benazir Bhutto, social activist Asma Jahangir and other women leaders, hours before the arrival of United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to press President Pervez Musharraf to lift emergency.
Bhutto had been handed down a seven-day detention order on November 13 at the residence of a Pakistan People's Party leader in Lahore to prevent her from leading a 'long march' to Islamabad against the emergency.
Jahangir, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, was put under house arrest in her residence in Lahore shortly after President Pervez Musharraf proclaimed the emergency on November 3.
The government of Punjab province decided to release Bhutto, Jehangir and other detained women, state-run APP news agency reported.
Despite the lifting of the house arrest of the two-time former premier, hundreds of policemen were still deployed at the residence of PPP leader Latif Khosa, where she is staying.
Police officials said the house will no longer be classified as a 'sub-jail' and the policemen will remain in the area for Bhutto's 'protection.' They also said she would be free to move and people will be allowed to enter Khosa's house.
Despite increasing pressure from the US and Pakistan's opposition parties, Musharraf has not set a date for withdrawing the emergency and restoring key fundamental rights.
He has named Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro, a leader of the ruling PML-Q, as the caretaker prime minister to oversee parliamentary polls to be held by January 9.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, the grouping of religious parties, has announced country-wide protests against the emergency on Friday.
PPP workers have been staging protests since early this week in several cities, including Lahore and Karachi, where three persons died on Thursday when gunfire erupted during a demonstration. These were the first deaths in protests against the emergency.