Pakistan was in effect suspended from the Commonwealth last night, and told to stay away from the organisation's summit conference in South Africa next month.
After last week's military coup, ministers from the eight-country Commonwealth ministerial action group (CMAG) said the suspension would be effective "forthwith" and would remain "pending the restoration of democracy in the country".
The group, set up in 1995 to pressure the Nigerian military to restore civilian rule, said it "unanimously condemned the unconstitutional overthrow of the democratically elected government of Pakistan as a serious violation of the Commonwealth's fundamental political principles".
The group's chairman, the Zimbabwean foreign minister, Mr Stan Mudenge, said suspension automatically followed a change of rule in a country "by military or illegitimate means". Mr Robin Cook, the British Foreign Secretary, said after the meeting: "What we're trying to do is restore to the people of Pakistan the right . . . to choose who is going to rule them."
South Africa, hosting the summit of the 54-strong organisation in Durban, announced earlier that Pakistan would not be allowed to attend. Aid from the Commonwealth's fund for technical co-operation was also suspended, following the suspension of bilateral British aid last week. Ministers called on the military regime to announce immediately a time frame for the restoration of democracy and agreed to send a mission to Islamabad consisting of ministers from Canada, Barbados, Ghana and Malaysia.
It will be chaired by Mr Lloyd Axworthy of Canada, and is expected to leave by the end of the month, diplomats said. If no progress is made, heads of state will agree on formal suspension before they meet in Durban. Expulsion is unlikely.
Commonwealth diplomats said they were pleased with the speedy and united response to the crisis, but it is not clear what pressure the organisation can bring to bear on its second-largest member.
Pakistan denounced the move as unfair and accused the Commonwealth of bias in favour of India. "I think this is very unfair to the people of Pakistan," Gen Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan's secret service, told the British satellite broadcaster Sky TV.
He said the people of Pakistan had given full backing to the military regime of Gen Parvaiz Musharraf, who on Sunday pledged an eventual return to civilian rule, but gave no timetable.
In Islamabad, the US ambassador, Mr William Milam, said yesterday that Washington was undecided over whether to continue supporting international funding to Pakistan. The US and the EU have suggested that they could block IMF disbursements, which make up the country's sole foreign exchange reserves.
Meanwhile on the Pakistan border with India, Pakistani troops began a controlled withdrawal yesterday, just 24 hours after Gen Musharraf announced a reduction of troop numbers as a means of easing tensions.
However, a spokesman for the Pakistan army, Col Saulat Raza, said the withdrawal was only along the 460-mile international border with India and not along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir, a decision that was greeted coolly in New Delhi.