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Islamabad: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday abruptly cancelled his trip to the Beijing Olympic Games as local media reported that the ruling coalition had agreed on steps to remove him.
"The visit has been cancelled," said Mohammed Sadiq, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. He gave no further details on the scuttled Wednesday departure.
The announcement came as the leaders of Pakistan's main ruling parties met for a second day in the capital, Islamabad, to discuss how to restore dozens of judges fired by Musharraf as well as to consider the unpopular president's fate.
Local newspapers citing unnamed sources reported on Wednesday that the ruling party leaders had reached a consensus on Tuesday on what steps to take to oust Musharraf.
Dawn, one of Pakistan's leading English-language papers, reported that the two main parties had agreed to formally request that Musharraf step down and impeach him through parliamentary measures "if he did not oblige."
Party officials declined to comment on the reports about the meeting between Asif Ali Zardari, head of the largest coalition party, and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who heads the second biggest party.
Zardari was also invited by China to attend the Olympics, but he, too, had cancelled the trip, a spokesman said. His son, Bilawal, who is finishing his studies at Oxford, will attend instead.
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