On the day Pakistan’s deposed chief justice called on lawyers to take to the streets till General Pervez Musharraf lifts the state of emergency and the US led global calls for early polls in the country, hundreds of Islamic militants seized a town in the north-west after outnumbered security forces laid down their arms.

About two dozen police officers and several troops offered no resistance to militants who seized three police stations and a military post in and around Matta, a town in the Swat valley.

“We didn’t harm the police and soldiers and allowed them to go to their homes as they didn’t fight our mujahideen,” said Sirajuddin, a spokesman for Maulana Fazlullah, a firebrand cleric whose followers are battling security forces.

He said the militants had hoisted their black and white flags over the captured posts.

Swat has been a focus of a wave of militant violence in Pakistan that began in July and has left more than 1,000 people dead, many of them in suicide attacks and army offensives.

Once a popular tourist destination because of its mountain scenery, Swat is also an example of how Islamic militants are trying to extend their control of areas near the Afghan border.

A Swat police official confirmed that militants had seized Matta without a fight. He said authorities had sent helicopter gunships to target militant positions in the area.