The move comes a week after students affiliated to Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, kidnapped a woman accused of being a brothel owner and mounted morality patrols targeting music and DVD shops.

"I announce the setting up of a Sharia (Islamic) court from today. I hereby declare the start of Islamic law from this mosque," mosque leader Abdul Aziz told 2,000 supporters in a sermon during traditional Friday prayers.

The court would consist of 10 muftis, or Islamic scholars, he said.

Aziz warned the government not to try to storm the mosque, where hundreds of burqa-clad women and male students waving bamboo sticks have regularly mounted shows of defiance.

"If this (storming the mosque) is the government's last option, then our last option can be suicide attacks. We have tens of thousands of people who can shake the government with 'fidayeen' (suicide) attacks," he said.

As bearded supporters shouted slogans, Aziz also gave the government a one-month deadline to close what he called brothels, gambling dens and secret alcohol outlets "or our own male students will complete the task."

The Pakistani government has failed to take any action so far against the mosque, despite growing fears that the Islamic republic of 160 million people, is becoming increasingly "Talibanised".

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the cleric had no credibility and insisted that law and order would be maintained, without specifying what action the government would take.