The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, chaired by Maltese Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Frendo, yesterday laid out 10-day deadline and a raft of stiff demands to be met by Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf.

Addressing a press conference in the wake of yesterday’s emergency CMAG meeting, Dr Frendo commented, “We have afforded Pakistan a last chance to immediately address the issues and take the necessary measures by 22 November.

“If there has been no such implementation by our next review, CMAG will suspend Pakistan from the Councils of the Commonwealth.”

The controversy stems from President General Perez Musharraf’s imposition of a state of emergency on the country and his refusal to separate his roles as president and head of the military.

CMAG yesterday issued a set of onerous demands Gen. Musharraf is to meet within 10 days, the eve of the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda.

The demands are largely in line with others being made by the international community, to which Gen. Musharraf is yet to buckle to.

The Commonwealth yesterday called for an immediate repeal of the state of emergency, the restoration of the constitution and the judiciary and for Gen. Musharraf to step down as chief of army staff.

Political party leaders and activists, human rights activists, lawyers and journalists in detention are to be immediately released and curbs on private media broadcasts and press restrictions should also be immediately lifted.

CMAG also called for the government to “move rapidly towards the creation of conditions for the holding of free and fair elections in accordance with the Constitution”.

On 3 November Gen. Musharraf imposed a state of emergency on the country and suspended the constitution.

Gen. Musharraf has so far set no time limit on emergency rule, which has resulted in the arrests of thousands of his critics – including lawyers, human rights activists, opposition politicians and their supporters – a ban on rallies and the censuring of independent television networks.

With the country facing a general election before 9 January, opponents say a fair ballot would be impossible under the current circumstances.

But the measures, Gen. Musharraf said on Sunday, were necessary to ensure “absolutely fair and transparent elections” and to step up the fight against Islamic militants.

Under the state of emergency all processions, rallies and political gatherings are illegal.

That includes a three-day, 300 kilometre and thousands-strong caravan from Lahore to Islamabad planned by opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Her supporters were yesterday pledging to go ahead with the caravan, due to run from Lahore to Islamabad, while the government said it would treat it as illegal.

Ms Bhutto, herself a former prime minister, was targeted by a suicide attack, which killed 145, on her homecoming to Karachi from a self-imposed exile.

Gen. Musharraf has promised to hold elections by 9 January, but Ms Bhutto insists it is not enough and that she could not accept the continuing state of emergency.

CMAG, currently chaired by the Maltese foreign minister, deals with “serious or persistent violations of the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values” and recommends measures for collective action.

The Group’s next meeting is to be held on the eve of CHOGM, and if a review of the situation in Pakistan proves unsatisfactory it would recommend Pakistan’s suspension to heads of state assembled in Uganda.

Pakistan had been suspended from the Commonwealth when Gen. Musharraf seized power in 1999 and had been reinstated in 2004.

CMAG currently includes the foreign ministers of Canada, Lesotho, Malaysia, Malta, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and Tanzania.