Islamabad - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf would make a public appearance Monday afternoon on state television, a spokesman for the embattled leader said amid reports that he might announce his resignation.

"The president will address the nation at 1 pm" (0700 GMT), Rashid Qureshi said without elaborating.

Several media reports said Monday that Musharraf, a retired army general who took over in a bloodless coup almost nine years ago, had made up his mind to quit. They cited presidential advisers.

It would be his last address to the nation, Urdu-language Geo news channel reported.

Earlier, Newsweek, a US news magazine, cited a close aide to Musharraf as saying that the president would resign Monday and "fly into exile in Saudi Arabia, where he is to remain for the next three months."

Musharraf showed defiance immediately after the ruling coalition unveiled its plan August 7 to impeach him, but Newsweek said he gave up resistance after his handpicked military chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, told him that the army was not backing him anymore. (dpa)