Resignation a precondition for safe exit - newspaper

Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf will be denied a safe exit from the country if he doesn't quit ahead of an impeachment move against him in parliament, western diplomats in Islamabad have been told, a leading newspaper has reported.

Diplomats, who called on Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari were "clearly told" that if Musharraf didn't step down, "the government would not be in a position to provide him a safe exit and he could be placed on the Exit Control List", The News reported yesterday.

Among those who met Zardari were Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy Peter Body and "two other important officials who had come from Washington to discuss Musharraf's fate", the paper said, quoting sources.

The embassy's press attache, Lou Fintor, told the newspaper: "We cannot confirm or deny the meeting but we regularly meet with a variety of Pakistani officials, though we do not generally discuss the substance of these meetings."

Army keeping aloof

Zardari and Nawaz Sharif "are determined to turn the most trusted friend of America in Pakistan into an example because they are sure that the army is no longer supporting Musharraf", The News said.

"They understand that if the army is claiming to be neutral, nobody except [US President George] Bush is in a position to save him.

"They would like to send a clear message to Bush, and may already have sent it through discreet channels, that his interference in the politics of Pakistan will spread more anti-Americanism in the only Muslim nuclear power in the world, so he should not call anyone in Pakistan to save Musharraf."