RIYADH Saudi Arabia has denied it has a plane waiting to take former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf to the Muslim kingdom, a press report said on Tuesday, amid speculation Riyadh could offer him asylum.

The Saudi ambassador to Pakistan, Ali Awad Esseiri, said media reports that that there was a Saudi plane in Islamabad ready to transport Musharraf were 'baseless claims' and 'media lies', the Okaz newspaper reported.

'Saudi Arabia has been and continues to look out for the security, stability and sovereignty of Pakistan and will not interfere in its internal affairs,' he was quoted as saying.

Saudis intelligence chief was in Pakistan at the weekend for talks with the government over the political crisis over Musharraf, who resigned on Monday to avoid an impeachment battle.

In Pakistan, officials from both the ruling coalition and the security services said that in the wake of his resignation Musharraf would travel to close ally Saudi Arabia in the coming days to perform Muslim rites.

A senior coalition official told AFP that Musharraf would then head for London or Turkey, but his aides insisted he would return after his religious duties in the Gulf kingdom.