Security officials have lifted the house arrest imposed on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto ahead of a meeting she is scheduled to have with the U.S. special envoy to the region.
The move comes as President Gen. Pervez Musharraf swore in a caretaker administration to guide the country through the current political turmoil.
Musharraf, speaking in English on Friday, claimed he was responsible for having "introduced the essence of democracy in Pakistan," something he said he took pride in. Musharraf seized power with a military coup in 1999.
U.S. special envoy John Negroponte was set to meet with both Bhutto and Musharraf on Friday. Though barbed wire still surrounded Bhutto's house in Lahore, she was expected to be allowed to attend the meeting.
"I was told earlier today by one of Benazir Bhutto's close assistants that she in fact would be leaving the house at some point, that a house arrest had been lifted and she would be making her way probably back to Islamabad where she is scheduled to be meeting with the U.S. special envoy," said CTV's Paul Workman, reporting from Islamabad.
"He will meet with Musharraf and also meet with Benazir Bhutto so it would be quite embarrassing if she were still under house arrest when he got here."
Bhutto has urged other opposition leaders to join her in mounting a challenge to Musharraf that would result in an alliance that would replace him and establish a new government until scheduled parliamentary elections on Jan. 9.
"She's talking about an interim government in the event that Musharraf resigns or is forced to resign, but it's very, very difficult in this country to get the opposition parties to agree on anything, so if it happens, it will be quite extraordinary," Workman said.
Bhutto has also mused about uniting the opposition parties in a boycott of the January elections. If that were to go ahead, it would represent a serious blow to Musharraf, Workman said.
Bhutto's house arrest was lifted overnight, according to authorities.
"The house is no longer a sub-jail but security will remain for her own protection. She's free to move and anyone will be able to go to the house," Zahid Abbas, a senior police official, told an Associated Press reporter. Bhutto has been barricaded inside the house for the past three days.
Though the house arrest status had been lifted, vehicles including trucks and tractors were still blocking the road leading to the house and police would not let reporters cross the line.
Her detention began on Tuesday in order to block a three-day protest caravan that the government said would have broken a ban on political demonstrations under the current state of emergency.
Musharraf made it clear on Friday that he believes he has advanced the country towards democracy and civilian rule.
He said the outgoing cabinet should take pride in the progress that has been made.
"I take pride in the fact that, being a man in uniform, I have actually introduced the essence of democracy in Pakistan, whether anyone believes it or not," Musharraf said during the Islamabad ceremony to install the caretaker ministers at the presidential palace.
The caretaker government is headed by former Senate chair Mohammedmian Soomro, a Musharraf loyalist.
The state of emergency established in Pakistan on Nov. 3has been widely criticized by Western nations. Opponents have described it as justification for Musharraf to muzzle the media, detain political opponents, and fire members of the judiciary who were likely to oppose him.
But Musharraf maintains he declared the state of emergency in order to crack down on extremists linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban and to prevent interference from independent-minded judges.
The U.S. has said it expects Negroponte, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, to be allowed to meet with whomever he chooses while in the country.
