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With delicate negotiations ongoing this weekend to persuade President Pervez Musharraf to resign rather than put him through a humiliating impeachment process, the powerful Pakistani Army is staying on the sidelines rather than staging a de facto coup, The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

Analysts say one reason may be that Musharraf is so unpopular, any move to save him from impeachment would be a blow to military's considerable prestige. Another is that the army has been weakened by supporting Musharraf's decision to impose emergency rule in November, when thousands were sent to jail and the constitution was suspended.

"They haven't come this far in order to turn back", Ikram Sehgal, a journalist and former senior Army officer, told the Times.

"The constitutional role of the army is what it is, a nonpolitical one", added Shaukat Qadir, a retired brigadier general turned analyst. "And the position of the army in all this has emerged with perfect clarity. They are saying, 'We are hands-off.'"

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