Charges drawn up against Pakistan's Musharraf

"If he fails to decide to quit within the next two days, the impeachment process will take its course."

Allies and rivals of Musharraf have said ongoing back-channel talks could lead to the president's exit before an impeachment motion reaches Parliament.

Speculation has been mounting that former army chief and firm U.S. ally Musharraf would quit after the coalition government, led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said last week it planned to impeach him.

The president's spokesman has insisted Musharraf would not resign but would face the accusations. He dismissed as malicious reports of the president's imminent resignation and said they were damaging the economy.

But negotiations on an exit for the president have been going on, officials have said, while media have reported important ally Saudi Arabia has been trying to help mediate a solution.

IMPEACHMENT CHARGES READ

A coalition team has finished drafting impeachment charges and handed them to the minister of law for scrutiny, Ahsan Iqbal, a member of the drafting team, told Reuters.

"There is a long list of charges against him ... we will file them, by the latest, by Tuesday," said Iqbal, a senior official of the second biggest coalition party, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The long-running crisis surrounding Musharraf's future has heightened concern in the United States and other allies about the stability of the nuclear-armed Muslim state, which is in the front line of the campaign against Islamist militancy.

Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup. His popularity began to evaporate last year when he clashed with the judiciary and imposed a six-week stint of emergency rule to thwart opposition to his efforts to secure another term.

Musharraf's November 3 imposition of emergency rule is reported to be a main charge on the list.

Coalition officials have hoped Musharraf would resign rather than face impeachment and they said on Friday that talks included immunity from prosecution if he stepped down, and the question of a safe place for him to live.

On such issues, divisions have appeared in the ruling coalition, raising the likelihood of impeachment proceedings. Sadiqul Farooq, a spokesman for the party of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif - whom Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup - said legal guarantees were out of the question.

Sharif's party is the second largest in the coalition, and has said Musharraf should be tried for treason, which carries a maximum punishment of death.

Whether the president could safely stay in Pakistan is an open question. He is despised by Islamist militants and has already survived multiple assassination attempts.

Observers say an exile deal could send him to Turkey, where he spent some of his childhood, though other possibilities such as the United States or Britain also have been suggested.