Pressure mounts, but Musharraf denies exit plan

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf, facing a serious challenge to his powers in the wake of parliamentary election results, on Sunday swiftly denied reports that he was planning an ���exit strategy��� even as the PPP and the PML(N) continued discussions on the formation of the new government, which is likely to assume office next week.

Hours after a leading British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that the beleaguered president had ���already started discussing the exit strategy for himself���, Musharraf, through his spokesman Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi, made it clear that he has no such plan. ���I think one should not attach much credence to the report. Nothing of this sort has been discussed in the president���s office,��� Qureshi said.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed aide of Musharraf as saying that ���he (Musharraf) has already started discussing the exit strategy for himself. I think it is now just a matter of days and not months because he would like to make a graceful exit on a high���.
Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Muhammad Asif on Sunday met PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, whose party emerged as the single-largest party in the elections with 87 seats in the 272-member National Assembly, and discussed co-operation between the two parties in forming the new government.

Emerging from the meeting, Asif told reporters here that ���my meeting is a continuation of the earlier meeting between the PPP and the PML-N on forming the government. We had agreed to have further consultations and to discuss the emerging political situation���. He said the two parties had decided to work together.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party and the PPP had last week agreed to form a coalition governments at the Centre and in provinces. Although the PPP has not yet announced its prime ministerial candidate, its veteran leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim is widely believed to be the front-runner for the key post.