The United States and other Western allies condemned General Musharraf?s decision to announce emergency rule on Saturday. Musharraf said he acted in response to rising Islamist militancy in nuclear-armed Pakistan and what he called a paralysis of government by judicial interference.

Most Pakistanis and foreign diplomats believe his main motive was to prevent the Supreme Court invalidating his October 6 re-election by Parliament while still army chief. Musharraf, in a midnight televised address, said the country was in grave danger of becoming destabilized. He has convened all foreign ambassadors for a meeting in Islamabad this morning.

?I cannot allow this country to commit suicide?, he said, after purging the Supreme Court of judges opposed to him and rounding up lawyers. The United States, which regards Musharraf as a crucial ally against al Qaeda in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, had earlier urged Musharraf to avoid taking authoritarian measures.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who became a cause celeb after Musharraf suspended him eight months ago and was reinstated in July, was fired after refusing to take a fresh oath following the suspension of the Constitution. A lawyers? movement that emerged at the vanguard of an anti-government campaign last March called for a countrywide strike today to protest Musharraf?s move. Veteran Islamist Qazi Hussein Ahmed, leader of the opposition religious alliance, called for street protests to overthrow ?the military dictator?, during a speech to 20 000 followers on the outskirts of Lahore.

Pakistan?s English-language newspapers were unforgiving of the draconian measures that included a ban on any coverage ?that defames, and brings into ridicule or disrepute the head of state? on pain of up to three years? jail.

Streets quiet

Pakistan Television said that the cabinet, National and Provincial Assemblies would continue to function and that Abdul Hameed Dogar had been appointed as new Chief Justice. There were no troops or large numbers of police on the streets of the capital, or the other main cities, Karachi, Lahore or Peshawar, though the detentions were conducted in all of them.

A top leader of exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif?s party voiced defiance before police took him away in Multan, a major city in Punjab province. ?People will win. Generals will lose. They have to surrender?, Javed Hashmi told reporters yesterday.

Musharraf, who came to power in a coup eight years ago, did not say how long the emergency would last, but said he still planned to move Pakistan to civilian-led democracy without saying when elections, which were expected in January, would take place.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed yesterday for restraint on all sides and said Musharraf must affirm that elections will take place.

?It is in the best interests of Pakistan and the Pakistani people for there to be a prompt return to the constitutional course, for there to be an affirmation that elections will be held for a new Parliament and for all parties to act with restraint in what is obviously a very difficult situation?, Rice told reporters during a visit to the Middle East.

Musharraf had been promising to quit the army and become a civilian leader if he was given a second five-year term, but uncertainty over the court?s decision had left the country in suspense and stock markets fell last week amid the uncertainty.

Pakistan?s internal security has deteriorated sharply in recent months with a wave of suicide attacks, including an assassination attempt on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last month that killed 139 people.

The United States had been quietly encouraging Musharraf to forge a post-election partnership with Bhutto to fight Islamist forces influence rapidly creeping in from the volatile northwest.

Bhutto flew back to Pakistan on Saturday from a brief visit to Dubai and accused Musharraf of imposing ?mini-martial law? in a move to delay elections ?by at least one or two years?. Another leading opposition figure, former cricket captain Imran Khan, was put under house arrest, but escaped hours later.

Simon CAMERON-MOORE and Zeeshan HAIDER