Islamabad

Taliban fighters are tightening their grip in areas in the north-west of Pakistan as a result of the country's state of emergency, officials in the Swat valley have said. Pro-Taliban fighters have advanced in recent days and government officials say they now control as much as 70 per cent of the valley, just a few hours' drive from Islamabad.

The opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was placed under house arrest this morning, her political party said. Streets were filled with police officers carrying batons and shields, and trucks blocked roads, trying to prevent access to a protest rally that Bhutto had helped organize in Rawalpindi, the garrison city adjacent to the capital of Islamabad.

Most of Pakistan's deposed judges were under virtual house arrest yesterday after they refused to take an oath under President Pervez Musharraf's emergency proclamation, a senior judge told AFP.

Police officers armed with tear gas and clubs attacked thousands of protesting lawyers Monday in the city of Lahore and rounded up lawyers in other cities as the government of the Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, faced the first signs of concerted resistance to the imposition Saturday of emergency rule.