President Gen Pervez Musharraf's bungled attempt to oust the country's top judge three months ago has backfired badly, fuelling a national protest movement and seriously threatening his political survival.

Even erstwhile supporters of his eight-year rule are urging the pro-US general to resign as army chief by year's end and allow a civilian-led government.

While Western governments still expect their key ally in the fight against al-Qaeda to weather the storm, and stay on as a nonmilitary president, Musharraf has yet to make his intentions plain deepening uncertainty in the country before his current term expires in October.

With parliamentary elections also due around the year's end, disquiet is growing among his own political base.

Prominent figures within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q are now openly criticising his March 9 ouster of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry that unleashed violence in Karachi that killed more than 40 people, and canvassing a conciliatory path toward opposition parties.

"Elections should be held in a manner that is acceptable for all. He should invite all political parties for a grand national reconciliation," Syed Kabir Ali Wasti, a PML-Q vice-president, told The Associated Press.

"This is how he can get another five years."

Election to the presidency is through a vote of Parliament and Pakistan's four provincial assemblies. Musharraf's stated strategy is to win a vote for a new term until 2012 from sitting lawmakers, even though they were elected in flawed polls in 2002 and their term too is nearly over.

"There's increasing agreement across the country that nobody is going to swallow it," said Ayaz Amir, a columnist for the respected Dawn newspaper. "Legal arguments aside, how can an assembly that is about to die out give another five year term to the president? That's not what the constitution of Pakistan intended."

Such a bid could become mired in legal challenges and become further tarnished if Pakistan's fragmented opposition parties stage a boycott. A Western diplomat in Islamabad said Musharraf would also risk a popular backlash among voters already resentful of the rising cost of living.

When Musharraf seized power from elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless 1999 coup, the general enjoyed widespread support from Pakistanis tired of rampant corruption in government. His boldness in abandoning Pakistan's support of the Taliban in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks won him the trust of the West. Billions in aid and shrewd financial management helped kickstart the economy.