Allies call on beleaguered Musharraf to quit

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pressure is mounting on Pakistan's beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf from his own allies to step down before the ruling coalition tries to impeach him this month, officials said on Sunday.

Pakistan has been in political turmoil since early last year. The United States and its allies fear a prolonged political and constitutional crisis will lead to instability in the nuclear-armed state and partner of Washington in its war on terror, and uncertainty has unsettled markets and investors.

The governing coalition led by the party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto decided on Thursday to move to impeach Musharraf, saying he plunged Pakistan into political and economic crises during nearly nine years of single-handed rule.

But even before the impeachment motion is moved in parliament, some of his own allies have called on him to resign and threatened to vote against him if he doesn't do so.

"I have advised the president to choose a dignified exit and resign to save the country from further polarization," Sardar Bahadur Khan Sihar, an MP from Musharraf's main ally the Pakistan Muslim League, Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), told Reuters.

"If he did not quit, than it's obvious I will vote in favour of his impeachment."

A close ally of Musharraf said he was likely to resign before the impeachment motion was moved.

"I think there would be a settlement ... No impeachment in view of resignation," the ally told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"I think he would resign because it's a stigma to be the first president who is impeached," Education Minister Ahsan Iqbal, an ally of Musharraf arch rival former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, told Reuters.

The options for the president shrunk further after the PML-Q said it could not support him if he tried to use constitutional powers to sack the government and dismiss parliament.

The ruling coalition is short the two-thirds majority required in the joint sitting of the two-chambered parliament to pass an impeachment motion, but coalition officials say several allies of the beleaguered president had assured their support.

ABANDONED BASE