Musharraf Calls Coup Rumors 'Nonsense'
A nationwide power outage and a stop at a U.S. hospital by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf gave rise to widespread speculation that his military-led government had been overthrown in his absence, but he dismissed the rumors as "nonsense."

Musharraf said in an interview Sunday with Pakistani TV from the United States that the rumors were "nonsense in nonsense in nonsense."

In an interview with the "Today" show broadcast Monday, Musharraf defended his decision to support the war on terror, saying it had been in Pakistan's interest - despite earlier claims that the U.S. had threatened to attack the South Asian nation if it didn't.

"Basically it is in Pakistan's interest that I took the decision, it's not the case of somebody pointing the gun on my head or anything," he said.

Last week, Musharraf said in an interview that Richard Armitage, the former deputy secretary of state, warned Pakistan's intelligence chief after the Sept. 11 attacks that U.S. forces could bomb Pakistan "back to the Stone Age" if it didn't switch support from the Taliban.

The U.S. subsequently led a military campaign that in November 2001 ousted the Taliban regime for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

On Monday, Musharraf also stood by a peace agreement recently brokered by tribal elders with pro-Taliban forces in Pakistan's North Waziristan region. He cautioned against treating all tribesmen in that volatile enclave as militants.

"If you do that, you're going to have a people's war … and the people join the Taliban, and that will be disaster," he said.

Musharraf, 63, underwent routine testing with his cardiologist Saturday during an unannounced trip to Texas a day after meeting with President Bush in Washington.

The Pakistani president was "found to be in excellent health," according to a statement from the regional medical center in the East Texas town of Paris.

After leaving the hospital, Musharraf attended a private luncheon in the small town about 105 miles northeast of Dallas, The Paris News reported in Saturday's online edition.

While in the United States, Musharraf addressed the U.N. General Assembly and met with U.S. officials.
On Sunday, millions of homes across Pakistan were left without power for several hours after a glitch in the national electricity transmission system, government officials said.

Musharraf, who is expected to return to Pakistan on Saturday, himself came to power in a bloodless 1999 coup. He became a key U.S. ally in the war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Also on Monday, Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld death sentences for 12 soldiers and civilians accused in December 2003 bombings against Musharraf that killed at least 16 other people.

Musharraf narrowly escaped the two bombings targeting his limousine in Rawalpindi within 11 days that month. The 16 people, mostly police, died in the second blast, which was a suicide attack.

The accused include three low-ranking air force personnel, an army soldier, and seven civilians.

Musharraf has survived at least three known assassination attempts, all blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants. The alleged mastermind of the December 2003 attacks, Libyan al-Qaida leader Abu Farraj al-Libbi, was handed over to the United States.