Contrary to his claims, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf planned to oust the Nawaz Sharif government and stage a military coup well before October 12, 1999 as he feared a court martial over the Kargil debacle, former Pakistan Naval Chief Admiral Fasih Bukhari has alleged.

Bukhari, who resigned a week before the military coup, said he quit because he "had come to know that he (Musharraf) had decided to topple the Sharif government."

Musharraf wanted to topple Sharif as "he feared he will have to face a court martial for masterminding the Kargil (debacle)", Bukhari was quoted as saying by Pakistani website newspaper 'South Asia Tribune'.

Recounting the days before his resignation, Admiral Bukhari, who was a known moderate and worked for normalisation of relations with India, said Musharraf tried to dissuade him from resigning.

"I rang him up and told him that I was resigning. I could have stayed for another five months. He asked me not to resign. I said that I don't want to embarrass him. Because he was junior to me. He used to call me Sir. He said that I should resign but say after two months. I said no and insisted that I wanted to resign and he agreed," he said.

Bukhari's revelations, which come two days ahead of the general elections could turn out to be a major political embarrassment for Musharraf who plans to continue as President for the next five years.

The Admiral's allegations would contradict Musharraf's claims that his plane from Colombo was denied permission of landing in Karachi. He later returned with the help of senior commanders and took over power in Islamabad.