-Caveat Lector- Pakistan government 'dismissed' by military takeover October 13, 1999 Web posted at: 1:55 a.m. HKT (1755 GMT) (CNN) -- Pakistan's state-run TV reported that the nation's army dismissed elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his government Tuesday after the Pakistani leader announced he was sacking his powerful military chief. Television resumed broadcasting Tuesday after a three-hour blackout, announcing that "the government of Nawaz Sharif has been dismissed." Playing patriotic music, the station announced that Gen. Parvaiz Musharraf, the man Sharif had tried to fire, would address the nation. The Pakistani prime minister was apparently under house arrest Tuesday after Pakistan's military shut down radio and television broadcasts and surrounded key public facilities in the Islamic country. The army made its move two hours after Sharif announced he had dismissed Musharraf. Musharraf was in Sri Lanka at the time, but he quickly returned to Karachi and immediately went into a meeting with top generals. The army shut down Islamabad's airport and reportedly arrested Information Minister Mushahid Hussein. Troops also surrounded the home of Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz and were said to have taken over a number of other important buildings in Islamabad, Sharif's hometown of Lahore, and Karachi. After the television building in Islamabad was seized, hundreds of Pakistanis gathered in the street outside, singing, "Long live the army." Rift between Sharif, military over Kashmir Musharraf's dismissal, announced on state-run television as an early retirement, came as a surprise. Musharraf's term as army chief was to have ended in April 2000. Defense sources said Sharif also dismissed Chief of General Staff Mohammed Aziz. Rumors of a military coup had flown since Sharif's decision to order militants to withdraw this summer from Indian territory in the Kargil region of disputed Kashmir. The move ended a bitter two-month border dispute with India, but prompted demonstrations calling for Sharif's resignation. Sharif's order apparently began a rift between the prime minister and Musharraf, who had reportedly been involved in organizing the incursion into Indian territory. The summer border dispute in Kashmir nearly erupted into full-scale war between nuclear neighbors Pakistan and India. Two of three wars the two countries have fought in their 52-year history have been over Kashmir. Indian military on alert India's military was on high alert along its border with Pakistan Tuesday after the developments in Pakistan were reported. "This is a serious development for ... Kashmir," said a senior officer in the disputed Himalayan region Kashmir, speaking on condition of anonymity. Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called a crisis meeting Tuesday night after reports of the military action surfaced. The Cabinet Committee on Security was to meet Wednesday, immediately after Vajpayee was sworn in for another term as prime minister. Vajpayee was reelected prime minister in elections completed earlier this month. One of his promises was to restart stalled peace talks with India's nuclear neighbor Pakistan. In Washington, State Department spokesman James Rubin said it was clear the government of Pakistan was in "crisis." He said if the government was being overthrown, the United States would push for the restoration of democracy as soon as possible. "We were not aware of this move in advance," said Rubin. He said the United States believes Pakistan's constitution "must be respected. Reporters Imtiaz Gul, Nadeem Yaqub and Yasir Qureshi, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. � 1999 Cable News Network. 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