The United States said today it was "deeply disturbed" that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had declared emergency rule, and called it a sharp step backward for democracy.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told CNN television that Pakistan's declaration of emergency rule was "highly regretable" and she hoped its intention was to have free and fair elections.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement that Gen Musharraf had promised to hold elections in January and the United States urged him to do so.
Britain said it was gravely concerned by President Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule and urged him to hold elections on schedule.
Meanwhile, shots were heard in several neighbourhoods of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi hours after emergency powers were invoked.
There is strong backing for opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Karachi and Sindh province, and the most intense firing was heard in the Lyari neighbourhood, where support for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party is high, witnesses said.
"We recognise the threat to peace and security faced by the country but its future rests on harnessing the power of democracy and the rule of law to achieve the goals of stability, development and countering terrorism," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement.
"I am gravely concerned by the measures adopted today which will take Pakistan further from these goals. It is vital that the governance acts in accordance with the constitution and abides by the commitment to hold free and fair elections on schedule," he said.