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Musharraf slams coup allegations

President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan yesterday rejected rumors of a coup which were sparked by a nationwide blackout and fueled by a medical check-up that he underwent in the US.

Speculation about a takeover spread like wildfire across Pakistan by text message and telephone on Sunday, with Musharraf, who himself grabbed power from a civilian government in 1999, being out of the country.

"These reports are absolute nonsense and thank God we are not a banana republic," Musharraf was quoted as telling reporters in New York by the state-run Associated Press Of Pakistan.

"We are a normal, stable country," he added.

Musharraf, 63, also said he had been declared "very fit" by doctors who performed what he described as a routine heart and general check during a visit to Texas on Saturday. A friend who is a doctor had recommended the test because he had not had one for 12 years, he added.

The coup rumors began on Sunday shortly after Pakistan suffered its worst power cut in five years, leaving most of the country's 150 million people without electricity for many hours.

Officials quickly ruled out sabotage as a cause of the blackout, but newspaper offices and journalists were deluged with telephone calls from concerned members of the public about a possible coup.

Concern also grew because the power failure briefly interrupted state TV -- one of the first institutions to be seized during Musharraf's own coup seven years ago -- and private stations.

Officials tried to play down the situation by issuing anonymous denials but ministers were later wheeled out to squash them.

Musharraf is in the US, where he met US President George W. Bush in Washington and addressed the UN General Assembly.

Pakistan is used to army takeovers, having been under military rule for more than half of its history. Musharraf ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999 after Sharif sacked him as army chief.
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