How to Destroy a Constitution

I don't understand why President General Musharraf of Pakistan bothered to declare a state of emergency and announce that he's suspending the constitution. It's bound to cause notice. Why doesn't he just do what Cheney/Bush and the Congress did and overthrow the Constitution without announcing it? That way almost no one pays attention, the people that do notice can be called non-patriots, and it goes altogether more swimmingly.