ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan announced plans to lift its state of emergency within one month and allowed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to leave her villa following a day under house arrest, as the country sought Saturday to restore its battered image at home and abroad.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf insists he called the week-old emergency to help fight Islamic extremists who control large swathes of territory near the Afghan border, but the main targets of his crackdown have been his most outspoken critics, including the increasingly independent courts and media.
Thousands of people have been arrested, TV news stations taken off air, and judges removed.
The government — under mounting pressure from the U.S. and other Western allies to restore democracy in the nation of 160 million people — has announced that parliamentary elections initially slated for January would be held no later than Feb. 15.
And Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum told The Associated Press on Saturday that the state of emergency would ""end within one month."" He provided no further details and would not say when a formal announcement might come.
Some U.S. officials have expressed concern that Pakistan's political crisis would distract its government from efforts to quash a growing militant threat — the country also has been hit by a series of deadly suicide bombings, including one Oct. 18 targeting Bhutto.
Many critics say the main goal of Musharraf's emergency was to pre-empt a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of his victory in a presidential election last month. Under the constitution, public servants cannot run for office.
Musharraf says he will quit his post as army chief and rule as a civilian once the court has confirmed his re-election, but set no date for that step.