THE President of Pakistan, Mr Farooq Leghari, dissolved the National Assembly (lower house) early today and sacked Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her three year old government, her spokesman said.
The official news agency APP said the President had issued a proclamation announcing that general elections would be held on February 3.
It quoted unofficial sources as saying a former parliamentary speaker, Mr Meraj Khalid (80) had been named interim prime minister.
"I am satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the government of the federation cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and an appeal to the electorate is necessary," Mr Leghari said in his proclamation.
Troops were on guard outside the state run television and radio stations and on one road leading to Ms Bhutto's residence, but there was no sign of any major military deployment.
Witnesses said some army trucks were moving in the streets of Islamabad. Mobile telephone services were disconnected.
The President's statement read: "Now therefore, in exercise of my powers tinder Article 58(2)(b) of the constitution, I Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, hereby dissolve the National Assembly with immediate effect and the Prime Minister and her Cabinet shall cease to hold office forthwith."
Ms Bhutto has been in power since general elections in October 1993. The President has constitutional powers to dismiss elected governments and dissolve parliament's lower house.
Ms Bhutto's spokesman, Mr Farhatullah Babar, said she had received a letter from the president between 1.30 am. and 1.45 a.m. local time at her official residence in Islamabad.
"She is at her house but is not receiving any calls at the moment," he told Reuters by telephone. Asked if there had been any military deployment, he said: "No, no such thing."
Pakistani army units, however were reported to have taken over key installations in Islamabad APP said.
It said troops in battle gear had entered the capital at about 2 a.m. local time and taken over the state run radio and television stations, the telecommunications company, cabinet offices and the prime minister's secretariat.
Witnesses said troops were on guard at the television and radio stations and on one road leading to Ms Bhutto's residence, but there was no sign of any major military deployment or any restriction on movement of traffic in the capital.
The President's proclamation, in a long list of allegations against Ms Bhutto, pointed out that during her three years in government thousands of people had been killed in the southern port city of Karachi and elsewhere in Pakistan.
Many were killed in so called encounters with police and in police custody, he said.
The President recalled that in an October 1995 statement he had warned that law enforcing agencies must ensure that "there is no harassment of innocent citizens in the fight against terrorism and that human and legal rights of all persons are duly respected.
"This advice was not heeded and the killings continued unabated," Mr Leghari said.
The government failed to "put an end to the crime of extra judicial killings which is an evil abhorrent to our Islamic faith and all canons of civilised government," he said.
The statement also criticised the account given by Ms Bhutto of the killing of her estranged brother and political rival Mir Murtaza Bhutto, killed along with seven supporters in a shootout with police on September 20.