Musharraf said he wanted to spare Pakistan from a dangerous power struggle with opponents vowing to impeach him.

He said he was satisfied that all he had done "was for the people and for the country."

"I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes," Musharraf, struggling with his emotions, said in an hourlong televised address devoted largely to defending his record.

Musharraf dominated Pakistan after seizing power in a 1999 military coup, making the country a key strategic ally of the US by supporting the war on terror.

But his popularity at home sank over the years.

While his political exit robs the West of a stalwart ally, Musharraf's influence has faded steadily over the past 12 months.

He quit the pivotal post of army chief in November and his resignation was widely forecast.

Pakistan's stock market and currency both rose strongly on hopes that the country was bound for political stability.

In his hour-long address, Musharraf said he would turn in his resignation to the National Assembly speaker yesterday.

It was not immediately clear whether it would take effect the same day.

Mohammedmian Soomro, the chairman of the upper house of parliament, was poised to take over in the interim.

It remains an open question whom parliament will elect to succeed Musharraf, partly because the ruling coalition has vowed to strip the presidency of much of its power.

There is speculation that both Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, the leaders of the two main parties, are interested in the role.

However, neither has openly said so.

It was also unclear whether Musharraf would stay in Pakistan or go into exile.

After inspecting a guard of honour outside his hulking white marble palace in the capital, a poker-faced Musharraf stepped into a black limousine and left the presidency - perhaps for the last time.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, head of the main pro-Musharraf party, said Musharraf would live in Islamabad.

Musharraf owns a farmhouse on the outskirts.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said leaders of the ruling coalition would discuss whether to prosecute Musharraf in court on the impeachment charges.

Briefly, his political foes put those issues on the back-burner and got on with celebrating.

"It is a victory of democratic forces," Information Minister Sherry Rehman said.

"Today, the shadow of dictatorship that has prevailed for long over this country, that chapter has been closed."

Nampa-AP

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