Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday that there would be no need for impeachment against President Pervez Musharraf if he resigns before the move.

Speaking to media at the airport in eastern Pakistan's city Multan, Qureshi said that Musharraf should step down before the impeachment proceedings are initiated in the parliament, private Geo TV reported.

Qureshi said the president should resign within two days, and if he does not do so, the impeachment proceedings will start and continue till its logical end.

The foreign minister said no foreign pressure is being exerted on the government regarding the impeachment move.

Pakistan's coalition has finished its charge sheet against Musharraf on Friday, which would be tabled in the parliament together with impeachment motion next week.

Besides, all the four provincial assemblies have passed the resolution against Musharraf.

The ruling coalition parties on Thursday announced that they would launch impeachment against the president. The speculation about Musharraf's resignation has mounted since then.

But the presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi on Friday slammed some reports on Musharraf's resignation as "totally baseless and malicious".

The coalition needs a two-thirds majority votes in a joint session of upper and lower houses.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2008)