In a swift reaction, an eight-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry declared the emergency unconstitutional but the top judge was himself removed at the end of a day of fast-paced developments.

After weeks of speculation, around dusk troops took positions in and around vital installations and some private TV channels went off the air in an indication that emergency was in the offing. Telephone lines and mobile phones were also jammed.

The apex court building was also surrounded by troops with judges inside but, Chaudhry, who was suspended in March and later reinstated after a bitter spat with the General, is believed to have refused to take fresh oath under the emergency proclamation.

Musharraf, 64, who had seized power in a bloodless coup ousting Nawaz Sharif in October, 1999, took the step as he struggled to contain the militant violence and faced serious challenge to his political authority, raising doubts over parliamentary polls planned for January.