Canadian Armed Forces Station in Afghanistan

The Pakistan president has rejected calls for him to resign while suggesting he might quit if parliament reduces him to a powerless figurehead.

Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that he would not quit under pressure.

However, he indicated that he would go if the new government succeeds in reducing his still considerable powers to the point where he feels like a "useless vegetable".

"Parliament is supreme. Whatever the parliament decides I will accept it," Musharraf said on Pakistani news channels, which broadcast his remarks.

"If I see that I don't have any role to play, then it is better to play golf."

His critics are calling for his impeachment and trial for treason - a charge which carries the death penalty.

He has been under mounting pressure since his supporters lost parliamentary elections in February.

Media reports this week suggested he was ready to resign and go into exile.

Pakistan's two-month-old governing coalition is divided over how to deal with Musharraf.

Nawaz Sharif is a former prime minister whose government was ousted in Musharraf's 1999 coup.

He currently leads the second-largest party in the coalition.

Sharif is demanding Musharraf's impeachment and trial on treason charges.

He is also pressing hard for the restoration of judges whom Musharraf ousted last year to halt legal challenges to his continued rule.

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, and leader of the Pakistan People's Party, recently described Musharraf as a "relic of the past" who should resign.

But Zardari wants to restore the judges as part of several constitutional amendments that would also remove Musharraf's power to dissolve parliament and appoint military chiefs.