Cables from the US embassy in Islamabad obtained by WikiLeaks and reported in The New York Times and The Guardian newspapers this week also said President Asif Ali Zardari had made preparations for a coup.

One cable cited by both newspapers quoted US Vice-President Joe Biden recounting to Britain's then prime minister Gordon Brown a conversation with Zardari last year, in which Zardari told Biden he feared assassination.

Zardari, the cable said, had told the US vice-president that Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, and the Inter-Services Intelligence agency "will take me out."

In the military's first response to the allegations, spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said Saturday "the army has a demonstrated policy of supporting the political process within the confines of constitution of Pakistan."

Abbas also said that Kayani "holds all national leaders in esteem," including the main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif.

Zardari is the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007. He took power in 2008, returning Pakistan to civilian rule after nearly a decade under former general Pervez Musharraf.

According to a cable quoted by The New York Times, Kayani told the US ambassador during a March 2009 meeting that he "might, however reluctantly," pressure Zardari to resign.

Kayani was quoted as saying that he might support Asfandyar Wali Khan, leader of the opposition Awami National League Party, as the new president -- but not Sharif, Zardari's arch-enemy.

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