Two days into its release, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's [Images] autobiography has become a runaway hit, thanks to the controversy it generated because of the General's remarks on the Kargil conflict, the Agra summit and India's nuclear programme.

In the Line of Fire is second in the list of online store Amazon.com's bestsellers.

In India, the publishers claim to have sold the first consignment of 8,000 copies that reached on Tuesday.

" We have a repeat order for 4,000 copies, which will be available in India by next week," said Rahul Srivastava of Simon & Schuster, the publishers.

The book is creating waves on several online book stores, emerging a close second to Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival, which tops most charts. On Amazon, it jumped to the second slot from number six on Tuesday.

"Already all the top shots and policymakers have placed orders for the book. It will be very difficult to find it in the market," said Sharad Mohan of West Land, one of the book's distributors.

The English edition is priced at Rs 950. "Five thousand copies of the Hindi edition will also be available here by next week and that is being priced at Rs 395," said Srivastava.

"The demand is very huge for the book. Out of 50 copies stocked, most have already been sold out," said a spokesperson of the Full Circle store.

And the demand is not just from big metros -- there is also a rush for the book in smaller cities like Ludhiana, Lucknow and Dehradun, said Mohan.