President Pervez Musharraf today abruptly cancelled his scheduled visit to China to participate in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the wake of reports that Pakistan's ruling coalition could be finalizing a move to impeach him.

Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told reporters that Musharraf, who was due to fly to Beijing today, had called off his visit, a day after sparring coalition allies Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif's PML(N) had crucial talks to discuss his fate.

Officials, whoever, did not give any reason for the decision.

Musharraf has also called a meeting of his close constitutional and legal advisors at his camp office in Rawalpindi to discuss a strategy to counter any possible move to impeach him.

The decision to explore ways to impeach Musharraf was taken during a marathon meeting yesterday between PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif.

Both parties have been tight-lipped about the meeting and did not issue any statement on the talks.