Does Pakistan need emergency rule?

Inside Story asks if the US will now lend its support to Benazir Bhutto.

Inside Story asks if emergency rule was really
needed in Pakistan [EPA]

On day four of the emergency, the Pakistani government crackdown against pro-democracy activists continues with reports of dozens of further arrests.

Inside Story asks if the country will be able to hold elections as scheduled and where Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, is heading.

With a cabinet meeting this evening and the parliament holding a session tomorrow to decide on the scheduled parliamentary elections, we ask whether there was a real need to declare emergency rule.

Critics have said Musharraf acted to pre-empt a judgment by the supreme court on whether his re-election last month was legal. Yet Musharraf remains the strongest US ally in the war on terror. Would George Bush, the US president, be willing to turn a blind eye to the current situation, or maybe Benazir Bhutto, a former Pakistani prime minister, would be a better candidate who could continue the ‘war on terror’ with a more democratic mandate?

Watch Inside Story at 1730GMT.

Watch Part One Here: