LONDON, Sept 30: Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has said that the country is at the risk of a new coup.

Gen (retd) Musharraf told a meeting in central London on Wednesday that the army should be given a constitutional role in politics.

He said current army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani could be forced to intervene against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Following a reported meeting earlier this week between Gen Kayani, Mr Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Mr Musharraf was asked whether he thought a new putsch was likely.

“Well, you see the photographs of the meeting with the president and the prime minister and I can assure you they were not discussing the weather,” he replied to debate host Christopher Meyer, Britain's former ambassador to the United States.

“There was a serious discussion of some kind or other and certainly at this moment all kinds of pressures must be on this army chief,” he said.

The 67-year-old former president, now living in self-imposed exile in London, said similar 'pressures' in his first year as army chief had led him to launch the coup against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

“In that one year Pakistan was going down and a number of people, including politicians, women, men came to me telling me 'Why are you not acting? Are you going to act for Pakistan's good?'” Mr Musharraf told the Intelligence Squared debating forum.

He said the solution was to give the army a constitutional role in governing the country.

“The situation in Pakistan can only be solved when the military has some role,” he said. “If you want stability, checks and balances in the democratic structure of Pakistan, the military ought to have some sort of role.” —Agencies