The classified orders signal a watershed for the Bush administration after nearly seven years of trying to work with Pakistan to combat the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and after months of high-level stalemate about how to challenge the militants’ increasingly secure base in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

On paper, Pakistan’s president is a ceremonial head of state, but the post, like the presidential palace Mr Zardari is likely to inherit, has undergone a vast expansion. He will have his finger on the nuclear button, and will possess the authority to fire and appoint the all-important army chief and to summarily dismiss the government.

Authorities yesterday arrested a separatist leader, Yasin Malik, hours after detaining two others, Sayed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq. Meanwhile, three protesters were killed in clashes with police across the Kashmir Valley, and another 80 protesters defying the Government-imposed curfew in towns across the valley were injured.

The number of United States and NATO casualties is mounting so quickly, that unless something happens soon this could be the deadliest year of the Afghan war. Kabul, the seat of Afghanistan’s pro-Western government, is increasingly besieged. And Taliban and foreign Qaeda fighters are consolidating control over an expanding swath of territory sprawling across both sides of the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Former president Pervez Musharraf removed more than 60 judges under an emergency order on November 3 last year, just as the Supreme Court was set to rule against his election for a second presidential term. The announcement was expected to be made after a meeting of ruling coalition leaders last night.

In the wake of the joint effort in pushing out Mr. Musharraf, there appeared to be a momentary desire within Pakistan’s new governing coalition to keep the momentum going, and to resist the internecine squabbling that has characterized the coalition since it won parliamentary elections in February.

Among the findings of the survey: 69 per cent surveyed said the United States should shift its forces from Iraq to Afghanistan and the Gulf region, with 80 per cent believing that the United States has focused too much on Iraq and not enough on Afghanistan.

The Pakistani President had imposed a state of emergency in November last year to force his re-election to another five-year term through the Supreme Court, but his political allies were trounced at the February polls. The new governing coalition finally overcame months of divisions and agreed to impeach Mr. Musharraf on August 7.

The details of how the Pakistani president would exit, and whether he would be able to stay in the country or would seek residency abroad, are now under discussion between representatives of Mr. Musharraf and the governing coalition, the politicians said.

There was intense speculation in Pakistan yesterday that the military could be poised to stage another coup, or that President Musharraf may use his constitutional powers to dismiss the Government and parliament, thereby snuffing out the impeachment moves.