He also declined to give a date for stepping down as military leader, a move that the United States and other Western countries have requested as a sign of his seriousness about a transition back to democracy.

In Washington, American officials said that General Musharraf should be given more time. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised the announcement of an election date, but called for an end to the state of emergency.

“The key is to take this in steps,” she said in an interview on “This Week” on ABC. “And the first step is to make certain that the state of emergency ends, to make sure that people can compete for free and fair elections for the parliament.”

Ms. Bhutto, who is supported by Washington in her return to politics here, echoed Ms. Rice’s tone. She called General Musharraf’s announcement a “first, positive step” at a news conference in Lahore, the eastern city where she has threatened to lead a protest march on Tuesday. Whether she will carry out that threat remained unclear as of late Sunday.

Ms. Bhutto also said that holding fair elections under the state of emergency “seems to be difficult.” But she said she had “not shut the door” to talks with the Pakistani leader, perpetuating speculation that she and General Musharraf may be privately negotiating a power-sharing agreement.

The events on Sunday appeared to again place in jeopardy a troubled effort by American officials to create a “moderate center” in Pakistan by helping unite General Musharraf and Ms. Bhutto in an alliance to combat the Islamic militants, including Al Qaeda and Taliban extremists, that operate out of the country’s rugged northwest area adjoining Afghanistan. Pakistani political analysts say that General Musharraf’s popularity is plummeting at such a fast rate that a review of that idea is urgently needed.

“The U.S. administration is not willing to accept that Musharraf has messed up,” said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a leading political and defense analyst based in Lahore . “They don’t want to do any new thinking on Pakistan. At the highest level, they stick to their own framework.”