“I am not going to resign. I will remain in Pakistan.... Rumours about my resignations are rubbish,” he said in his first interaction with the media after the new Government was formed in March.

Asked what he would do if the Government clipped his powers or moved to impeach him, Musharraf replied: “I have already said the Parliament is supreme. Whatever Parliament decides will be accepted by me. If I see I have no role and cannot contribute anything to the country, I should not waste my time. It will be better if I play golf and rest. I am not the kind to be lying uselessly around,” the 64-year-old former military ruler told a select group of senior Pakistani journalists, adding he had no plans to leave the country.

But he made it clear that he could not be pressurised to quit. “What I do with myself is my decision then,” he said, adding he was not weak or “afraid of anyone”.

“I know how to confront but I believe in reconciliation,” Musharraf said.

Dismissing speculation that he might use powers under Article 58(2b) to dissolve Parliament and dismiss the Prime Minister, he said, “I haven’t done a single confrontationist act...I believe in forgiving and patching up.”

The Presidency doesn’t want confrontation with anyone and was not hatching any conspiracy against the Government, Musharraf added.

Dismissing reports in the media over the past few days that he planned to go into exile after quitting, Musharraf, who has clung on to power even after the defeat of his supporters in the general election, said, “My going or staying depends on me and Pakistan, and nobody else.”

Denying reports that he might go into exile in Turkey, he said: “I don’t have a house anywhere outside Pakistan and I don’t want to have one.”

“I am the constitutionally elected President of Pakistan. I will judge if I have any role to contribute towards Pakistan. I will not make this judgement under pressure or on the basis of rumours,” he said. “I cannot become a useless vegetable and I can’t be witness to the downfall of the state.”

Musharraf, who was recently described by PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari as a “relic of the past” standing between the people and democracy, pledged his support to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and said he would not interfere in the Government’s work. “I would be an unstable man if I, under the present circumstances, was to apply 58(2b). Only an unstable man would do this. I have not become unstable till now,” he said.

Significantly, Musharraf chose to speak to the media on a day when Prime Minister Gilani and the top political leadership were out of Pakistan. Gilani and Zardari are currently on a visit to Saudi Arabia while PML(N) chief Nawaz Sharif, a key ally in the ruling coalition, is in London.

Musharraf’s comments came after the ruling PPP prepared a constitutional reforms package that will drastically strip the President’s powers, including to dissolve Parliament and appoint military chiefs. The package is currently being reviewed by the PPP’s coalition partners.

“Someone reported that a plane has landed in Islamabad to take me out of Pakistan. But where is the plane?” Musharraf asked. “Someone was saying that the armed forces have surrounded my house. Someone said that I will leave the country within 48 hours. But now ask those reporters about the credibility of their reports.”

To a question about the Government’s plan to reinstate judges sacked by him during the last year’s Emergency, Musharraf said he would accept the Parliament’s decision in this matter.

“The whole nation will accept the Parliament’s decision to reinstate the judges. I will also accept the decision,” he said.

Musharraf rejected claims by the ruling parties that the Presidency was the centre of conspiracies against the newGovernment. “There is no conspiracy in the Presidency. I am performing my functions according to the Constitution,” he insisted.