Pakistan’s Supreme Court said on Friday that it will quickly wrap up hearing challenges to President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election, after an earlier plan for a 10-day adjournment raised fears emergency rule might be declared.

The court will reconvene on Monday instead of November 12, which would have been just three days before Musharraf’s current term ends, heightening a sense of suspense in a country already trembling from a wave of suicide attacks by al-Qaeda-inspired militants.

The court’s dallying had been a factor fuelling rumours Musharraf could invoke emergency powers and call off a vote due in January which is supposed to transform nuclear-armed Pakistan into a civilian-led democracy. “The court will not take any blame for the controversy being created,” said Justice Javed Iqbal, head of the 11-member bench hearing the objections to Musharraf contesting the presidency while still army chief.

As proceedings were wrapped up on Friday, Iqbal said efforts would be made “to conclude the case in the shortest possible time”.

‘No martial law’

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Attorney General said that President Pervez Musharraf does not intend to impose a state of emergency or martial law, despite a spiralling political crisis and Islamist violence.

Most local dailies said on Friday that the government was poised to take extraconstitutional measures, while former premier Benazir Bhutto said on Wednesday that she was concerned by rumours about such a step.

Ministers have previously warned that it is a possibility if the Supreme Court overturns military ruler Musharraf's victory in the October 6 presidential vote in a judgment expected in the next two weeks.

But attorney general Malik Muhammad Qayyum — who is leading the government’s case against the legal challenges to re-election — told the court there were no such plans. “Who is saying that martial law is going to be imposed? Martial law will not be imposed,” Qayyum told the court.