Pakistan’s US-backed ”transition to democracy” sustained a further blow on Sunday as Shaukat Aziz, the prime minister, warned that general elections due in the first half of January could now be delayed for up to a year under the recently-declared state of emergency.

On Sunday the US urged General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, to restore democracy and to release hundreds of lawyers, politicians and human rights activists detained in the wake of Saturday’s sudden suspension of the constitution.