Five days after he declared a state of emergency in Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, the president and army chief, remains defiant. Unprecedented diplomatic pressure had by last night failed to persuade him to restore the constitution and set the country back on the path to elections.

As pro-democracy protests gather momentum, fears are growing that the 64-year-old commando’s initial plan for a three- to four-week “surgical martial law” may fall victim to events, resulting in a lengthy period of dictatorship. That would confound western hopes that his military regime might acquire a veneer of popular legitimacy via a power-sharing arrangement with Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister.