Reuters has a timeline of the recent crisis here.

In terms of the events of today, here are some more relevant stories:

Via the Time of India: Pakistan arrests key anti-government lawyer: TV

Pakistani authorities on Saturday arrested the main lawyer who has been arguing in favour of challenges to President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election, private television reported.

Geo television reported that police had detained Aitzaz Ahsan after Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Saturday, just days before the Supreme Court was due to rule on the legality of the October 6 vote.

Ahsan, a former cabinet minister, also successfully defended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry after Musharraf tried to sack him earlier this year.

More evidence to suggest that this is about consolidating power for Musharraf/the elimination of the current main governmental threat to his power, i.e., the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile (also via the Times), Benazir Bhutto is heading back to Pakistan:

“Yes, I can confirm that she has left for Pakistan. She is flying to Karachi tonight,” he said.

[…]

When asked about his party’s reaction to President Pervez Musharraf’s latest move, the PPP leader said: “We are condemning it and hope that we can do something about it… We will oppose the emergency and will make sure that democracy is restored”.

Benazir Bhutto’s presence “shall rally all the forces of democracy and give everybody the heart that democracy is alive”, Zardari added.

We’ll see.

From the last two days:

Via Reuters: Militancy spirals as court keeps Musharraf in limbo:

A suicide attack on an Air Force bus killed eight people on Thursday as security forces said they wiped out up to 70 militants in northwest Pakistan, fuelling talk President Pervez Musharraf would invoke emergency powers to put off elections.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is going through a period of intense uncertainty in the run up to a vote due in January that is supposed to transform the country into a civilian-led democracy.

Or, more likely, a deepened military authoritarian regime.

It is difficult not to see the whole militancy issue as an excuse for Musharraf to crush the Supreme Court for its defiance of his rule:

The Supreme Court added to tensions on Thursday by dragging out hearings on whether U.S. ally General Musharraf was eligible to have stood for re-election while still army chief in a vote in parliament that he won easily early last month.

And there is this headline from yesterday’s NYT: Musharraf Is Asked to Resist Emergency Rule.

To which I would respond, I guess he didn’t take the advice…

The basics from the story:

Since Monday, American and European diplomats have been urging the embattled president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to refrain from imposing emergency rule to maintain his hold on power, a Western diplomat said today.

[…]

Ms. Rice today urged General Musharraf to go ahead with the elections planned for January.

“I am not going to get into the details of our conversations but I think it would be quite obvious that the United States would not be supportive of extra-constitutional means,” she said today on a trip to Turkey, Reuters reported. “Pakistan needs to prepare for and hold free and fair elections,” she said, adding that she had not spoken to General Musharraf in recent days.

Ultimately, however, except for some verbal slaps on the wrist (so to speak), I can’t image the US doing much of anything, given our clear need of Pakistan vis-a-vis Afghanistan and such.