The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Islamabad

Hours after Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule to the horror of many Pakistanis and the international community, the headlines said it all.

"General Musharraf's second coup."

"It is martial law."

"Draconian step."

Pakistan's broadsheets laid into the military ruler after he purged the Supreme Court and imposed sweeping reporting curbs that ban any coverage "that defames, and brings into ridicule or disrepute the head of state" on pain of up to three years' jail.

"Hopes that saner counsel might succeed in forestalling the extra-constitutional actions that had been hinted at t were obviously groundless," leading newspaper Dawn said in an editorial.

"One wonders about the nature and size of the risk taken by volunteering for a pariah's role in the comity (sic) of nations," it added. "Wisdom demands the courage to withdraw an action that will embarrass the whole country for ages."

Private television channels were blacked out on Saturday and Sunday, leaving only state television on air showing re-runs of Musharraf's late night address to the nation and advertisements promoting the government.

While Musharraf cited rising militancy and "interference" by the judiciary as the reasons for opting for emergency rule and suspending the constitution, his October re-election still awaited approval by a hostile Supreme Court -- which he has now replaced.

"Nov.3 will go down as another dark day in Pakistan's political and constitutional history," said The News. "This is one of General Musharraf's greatest errors of judgment and a sorry indication that nothing has been learnt from the mistakes of the past."