ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: But for the intervention of the Army, Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, who resigned last night as Pakistan's President, was all set to dismiss the Nawaz Sharif Government after a three-judge Supreme Court bench armed him with powers to sack federal government, media reports said here on Wednesday. Leghari was on the verge of dismissing Sharif's nine-month-old government but Army chief General Jehangir Karamat refused to support his designs, leading English daily The Muslim reported.

Karamat made a sudden turn around as only a few days ago he was supporting Leghari but on Tuesday he refused to back him, the paper said.

It also quoted presidential house staff as claiming that the Army chief came out in an angry mood after his meeting with Leghari.

``The Army has bailed out Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his government,'' the widely read The Nation said in an editorial comment on Leghari's resignation.

``Mr President, we will not be able to help you,'' a headline in the largest circulated Urdu daily Jung quoted Karamat as telling Leghari when he asked for support in dissolving the National Assembly using his powers under Article 58 (2)(B) under the Constitution, restored by the bench headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who has since been removed from the top post.

The Nation, however, cautioned Sharif, saying, ``It is unfortunate that this rescue act had to be resorted to by the armed forces and the Prime Minister cannot rely on a similar bail out (again).''

In a significant remark, The Muslim said the imminent danger, which forced the Army to put its weight behind the Prime Minister, was a sense of division within its own ranks.

Though Leghari, while announcing his decision to step down, had said he was not willing to exercise his restored power of dismissing the government, The Nation claimed that during the interregnum between the suspension of the 13th Amendment by a three-member bench and its stay by a 10-member bench, ``Leghari reportedly made an abortive attempt to take advantage of the restoration of Article 58 (2)(B) of the Constitution and dissolve the national assembly.''

He had used this power in November 1996 to dismiss the Benazir Bhutto Government amidst mounting allegations of corruption and collapse of law and order in the country.

The paper also rapped Sharif saying his ``tendency to strive to control all institutions of state and obliterate the separation of powers and functions of these discrete institutions, will have to be curbed.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.