Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday called off his visit to China, hours before he was scheduled to depart, as the ruling coalition was holding a crucial meeting to discuss his possible impeachment.

Musharraf was scheduled to leave for China in the afternoon to attend Friday's opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and meet Chinese leaders, including Prime Minister Hu Jintao.

"President Musharraf's visit now stands cancelled, and the organizers have been informed about the development," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said.

Musharraf's abrupt decision was preceded by a marathon meeting overnight between the two main partners in the ruling coalition.

Asif Ali Zardari of the ruling Pakistan People's Party and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) reportedly agreed overnight to impeach the embattled president and reinstate more than 60 senior judges who were sacked by the retired general last year under emergency rule.

On Wednesday afternoon, they started a follow-up meeting, which was also joined by smaller coalition partners, to take a final decision on the impeachment and the draft of a related parliamentary resolution.

"The first and foremost issues are the reinstatement of judges, impeachment of general Musharraf and restoration of the constitution," said Ahsan Iqbal, PML-N spokesman.

Musharraf, who ousted Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999, imposed emergency rule November 3 and sacked more than 60 senior judges when the Supreme Court was set to rule on his re-election to a second presidential term.

The move, termed by many as the "second coup," led to a sharp fall in Musharraf's popularity and the defeat of his political allies at the hands of Sharif's and Zardari's parties in February's general election. Both parties formed a coalition with four smaller parties.

Initially, Musharraf pledged to cooperate with the new government, but recently, he began to criticize it, especially for its inability to improve a deteriorating economy and chalk out a comprehensive policy about how to tackle militants, setting alarm bells ringing in his opponents' camp.

The ruling coalition has a majority to move an impeachment motion in the Parliament against Musharraf, but it was not clear whether it has the support of two-thirds of both houses of Parliament needed to pass it.

Analysts said they believe the former commando would not easily give up and he might use his last option of sacking the government and dissolving the Parliament to remain in office.

The Urdu-language Aaj news channel reported that the president on Wednesday discussed the possibility of impeachment with the senior leaders from his political ally, the Pakistan Muslim League, and decided that he would exercise every constitutional power available to him for his defence.